from Southern Illinois University in 1977 but decided to pursue a more practical career path. Shortly after retiring, I moved to Savannah, Georgia, from San Francisco, California. In 2008, I worked as an administrative assistant at the Savannah College of Art and Design in the Painting Department. While working there, I observed the passion of the SCAD students and faculty at close range and decid
ed to revisit my dream of being an artist. I knew that drawing pretty pictures was not what I wanted to do. I tried to paint watercolors and landscapes over the years but was never happy with anything. One night, I was walking, and suddenly these incredible paintings popped into my head. These beautiful non-representational paintings that consisted of bands of color came to me. I now knew there was a way for me to express myself artistically. I literally raced home and began to work, putting down ideas on paper
I realized that color was the thing that excited me the most. I became more and more interested in how colors interact with each other and how they can affect the viewer. There is a grid of squares that underlies each painting. Thatβs how I started. Everything fits together, almost like a jigsaw puzzle. I wanted diagonals, diagonals running one way and diagonals running the other way. The canvas ends up being divided up into little squares. I start erasing lines to create various patterns that emerge from the grid. Eventually, the grid dissolves, and all you see are the patterns. My work begins with the mathematical grid, resulting in paintings with an underlying structure. My work is very process-oriented. The creative part is in the design, the color palette,and the creation of the optical effects. The rest is taping and painting. Donβt forget to check out my Fine Art Prints and Originals by clicking the link below
www.stephendarrart.com
