Featured Artist Gary Cadwallader

Artist Gary Cadwallader’s detailed watercolor and acrylic floral portraits reach out to the viewer, drawing them in for a closer look. See more of this artist’s work on his website.

 

 

Although I was an art major, graduating in 1972, I only began painting in earnest at age 62 after a career as a computer programmer. Realizing my time was running out, I decided to give painting a real chance.

 

 

I paint in watercolor, acrylic and occasionally in oil. The first three years I painted exclusively in watercolor, having seen a national watercolor show in Springfield, Missouri called Watercolor USA.

 

 

When I saw the quality of that show, I told myself, “I want to show with these guys.” Six years later, I’m proud to say I have two paintings in this year’s Watercolor USA and one of them got an award.

 

 

I like images at the very front of a painting as if they are trying to reach out to touch the viewer. There seems to be more depth created when one has to peer around an object in order to see to the background of a painting.

 

 

I am not interested in a single point of interest, but want complexity and visual rewards evident to the viewer wherever he or she might look.

 

 

My paintings are not meant to fade into the background, but to reach out to the viewer. An occasional art history reference might creep into the paintings.

 

 

Sometimes I use Disney cartoons as a starting point, because cartoons have a kind of iconic power, especially in a large format.

 

 

My paintings may seem realistic, but there is a kind of dance between the abstract marks I make and the viewer which can be life affirming.

 

 

And so, I want a painting to be an extrovert. The painting has to stand up and shout, to reward the viewer so that people never leave a room without having to look at it one more time.

 

Artist Gary Cadwallader invites you to follow him on Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest.

 

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