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landscape #4 (your magic arrow flies with precision)

Landscape #4 (your magic arrow flies with precision) | 38 x 54 inches | oil on canvas 2009 | more paintings >>

I spent labor day with my wife and our dog driving down highway 35, which follows the Mighty Mississippi River on the Wisconsin side. Then we hiked the bluffs on the Iowa side. It was a perfect day for photography, so I shot a few from the highest point we could find. Really great, awe inspiring views!! So of course, I had to paint some of what I saw, using my photos as reference. I’ve created a step by step ‘lesson’ of this piece. If you have a few minutes, check it out!

state of the studio

There have been several weeks of no painting at all. Gasp! I know. That is supposed to be the last thing an artists should do—to be idle. But there are times in life when that is just what is needed to go forward. Time to reflect, resolve, and restart. There have been wonderful changes made to the studio in my head. Want to learn more?

why i paint

“Once something is sketched, it belongs to me and I thoughtfully arrange it on my painting surface where it is reborn.”

Todd Starks creates paintings using a variety of visual languages to talk about emotional space, shape, color, pattern and humor. With a painterly style, Starks carefully builds up impasto layers, using wet into wet oil paint, and allowing shards of underpainting to show through. Formally, the pieces are about composition, color harmonies, shape, and texture, yet each piece reveals a sensory and spritual connection to the landscape around him, and a dynamic interplay between conscious and subconscious thought.