Painter Gregory Peters captures the American West in traditional and contemporary styles. See more of his portfolio by visiting his website.
When I began painting the American West, I knew it was a daunting task. I’ve lived half my life overseas, traveled extensively, and painted many topics over the years, but with an enormous area abundant in geographic extremes, no one could adequately cover the rich diversity here.
For that reason, I concentrated upon the three topics I knew reasonably well; the countryside, beaches and wine. All are in abundance around me. Country-style, Toes in the Sand and Wine-country art cover aspects of living in the American West. Portraying these things in their entirety is impossible. Besides, the artistic style I employ doesn’t appeal to everyone.
I have been a painter for years, born in our nation’s capital but never lived there. I call the Pacific Northwest home, yet I live in the Southwest. I’ve spent years creating traditional acrylics on canvas and building 3D images from various materials I adhere to the canvas.
Concurrently I made a fine living as a graphic designer/copywriter, working with and for several fortune 500 companies. Using digital techniques honed over the years, I decided to create a collection of prints based upon the three topics I knew so well. I used images I had created over the years as inspiration and graphically “enhanced” them to appeal to the contemporary décor style I sensed others might be looking for.
It’s been a lot of fun “re-imagining” my art in this fashion. Many of the print images I created are better than the originals in my opinion. You’ll see this yourself as you browse my web site. 90+ original digital art images later, I am now attempting to promote this style concept.
It is a good idea occasionally to get a different perspective on one’s art as it is too easy to be overwhelmed when inside the matrix. Carolyn Edlund provided that needed insight in a very short amount of time and using her wisdom, managed to get me re-inspired to keep this old steam-train on the rails. Long Beach, California is a great place to live, but not an area that appreciates my vision, so I seek supporters from afar.
I’ve recently re-mastered aspects of my website, reached out to some local resources and gathered my wits about me to seek opportunities to promote my vision. Creating art is always a work in progress. I’m in my seventies now, but one never really retires as an artist, right?
Materials such as I use to create 3D compositions change, techniques improve, old habits and lifestyles are discarded and what is old is suddenly new. Time is relative and generational viewpoints change.
My viewpoints may be conservative, but I believe that images can portray traditional values to suit contemporary needs. This is another avenue to connect people with beauty, nature and America’s heritage in ways that we can all share. A younger generation than I, needs to get out and experience this marvelous country of ours. This is an invitation.
Gregory Peters invites you to follow him on Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn.
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