Featured Artist David Henry

Artist David Henry shares a masterfully created collection of paintings, ranging from floral still lifes to landscapes. See more of his portfolio on his website.

 

 

Though I have formal training in painting, I spent the past 30 years teaching public school. Recently retired, I’m thrilled to now devote myself fully to my art. While teaching, I always made time to paint, ensuring my skills wouldn’t fade. Now, with more time to dedicate to my art, I feel I am learning and growing with every painting I create.

 

 

While my primary focus is still life—simple compositions featuring beautiful flowers, fruits, vases, jars, and other objects of interest. They are all painted with careful attention to detail. I also am drawn to landscape and plein air painting. I work mostly with oil paint on smooth primed birch panels or very fine linen mounted on a birch panel.

 

 

I am inspired by the rich tradition of representational painting, drawing influence from the Old Masters and the works of the Impressionists. I’m particularly drawn to the 17th and 18th-century Dutch still life masters and strive to embody their exceptional quality of light and attention to detail in my own compositions.

 

 

In addition to studying the past, I continually seek inspiration from contemporary realist painters, especially those whose still-life works and landscapes resonate with me. I am constantly motivated and informed by the remarkable talent of representational painting in the world today.

 

 

I work with the palette and principles of the Impressionists, viewing everything as light and the color of light. Rather than relying on value changes to define form, I build structure through shifts in color.

 

 

Color design plays a crucial role in my approach to still-life compositions. For example, in a scene featuring a white surface, a white background, and a white vase holding a pink flower, I eliminate “color competition” to emphasize the variations in the pink flower and the subtle hues of the whites and shadows within the painting. This approach also extends to more complex compositions, where I carefully harmonize and contrast color relationships in a thoughtful and deliberate way.

 

 

For me, the beauty of still life lies in how light moves over an object, revealing its form and character. What may seem like a simple, mundane subject can become something profound, offering space for reflection.

 

 

A still-life painting captures a moment—an interplay of light, shadow, color, and form—that invites the viewer into a contemplative space. The still life is, in essence, a perpetual motion of relationships, a world within a frame, waiting for the viewer to bring their own thoughts and associations to the scene.

 

 

In landscape painting, I explore both urban and rural subjects, seeking to capture that underlying sense of mystery and timelessness that I often feel in a particular place.

 

 

Want to stay current on cutting edge business articles from Artsy Shark, plus artist features, and an invitation to the next Call for Artists? Click below to sign up for our twice-monthly email. You’ll get all this plus opportunities and special offers that you can’t get anywhere else!