If Thomas Kincaid is the painter of light, I'm the painter of blight. Whether it's old an Drive–in or trailer park, trains or sun bleached Gremlins, my subjects are bound to be demoed, towed to the junkyard or explode when the Meth chemicals combust. As a founding member of the L.A. River School of Urban Impressionism, I chronicle the fast disappearing pockets or industry, urban decay and run down rural areas. Places most consider not worth remembering, let alone turning them into works of art.
posted by william wray at 11:10 PM
After traveling his entire childhood as an Army brat Bill Wray began working in the animation business as a teen-ager. Being mostly self-taught and shunning California’s conceptual oriented art schools, he eventually enrolled in The Art Students League located in New York to reinforce his spotty art foundation. Bill went on to work in writing and drawing comic books, animation and illustration. He is mostly known for his painting style on the Ren and Stimpy Show, his work in Mad Magazine and his collaborations with Mike Mignola on Hellboy Jr. Bill is currently concentrating on fine art oil painting.
13 Comments:
I like the top one more. It has kind of that "torn" beauty, something damaged but unique in its own right.
Water is usually the hardest thing for me to get down convincingly, but the water in your painting looks pretty smooth.
I like both paintings. Jennifers has a nice quality of light, a soft brush technique and a bucolic feeling. Yours is more textured and moody, with an industrial edge. Good stuff!
She has a strong and beautiful sense of the light, but personally I prefer your inclusion of the power lines - it gives it a really sharp design sense and overall character, and it also makes the perspective much more active.
I like "torn" beauty, can I have that term?
AW,
I couldn't have said it better myself. With your guys toughtfull comments, I really don't need to say much. Thank you.
Hey Jeff,
I like how J Mac's picture is more simple, lit and unified. Mines a bit to detailed. See how strong the cement river wall in hers looks so solid and mind is lumpy? either way I hope we complement each other and know we will both grow from panting together.
By all means, use it. The term always sticks in my mind, because I really like pictures depicting an "aftermath". It means there's something disturbingly peaceful and beautiful in a scene where something bad has taken place.
In a Mythology class, I once learned about places like those called "amoenus locus" (spelling?), which means "beautiful place" where bad things happen. I think it was in reference to Narcissus.
You always give such special care to the water in your paintings. Seems almost effortless for you, makes me anxious to see more. Looks like you're in good company with Jennifer painting there next to you too.
I thought they were both yours when I first looked. You have a very similar style but different perspectives. I do love that you've included the powerlines. Such different atmospheres even though you were sat with each other. Brilliant!
Hey BG,
I'm rusty on my mythology, but I'm am a narcissist. I think my mind is a bad place were beautiful things happen.
Hey Tony,
I think it that water make me relaxed. I was at the beach every day of the summer as a child. Not a unique phoneme, but I do feel the connection with it being the source of all life and all the jazz. Maybe is as simple as my first plein air work shop was with Ray Roberts and we painted nothing, but beach scenes. Congratulations on your new gallery you should start a blog to keep us informed of your doings. It's easy. I'm a moron and I set mine up.
thanks Lesley,
When we started the day looked like mine: grey and cool, then the sun came out. I can't really speak for her, but I think J- Mac decided to go with the sunshine while I had my photo reference to refer to. I also block in really fast.
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I like em both!
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