Don Trout Artist, Teacher, Demonstrator
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A LIFE-LONG LOVE AFFAIR WITH ART
During my preschool years I found a pencil and I started drawing. This was the
beginning of a life-long love affair with art. In grade school my notebook of drawings
outweighed my notebook of school work. The drawings were not masterpieces, just
tanks, planes and soldiers, battle scenes and other typical subjects of a young boy's
musings.
As I entered my teens, my mother gave me a set of watercolors. I was noticing other
things now, like the beauty of young girls, and the natural world around me. I morphed
into a painter. I soon had a watercolor entered in a school competition and won a
Saturday Scholarship to the Art Institute. As a typical youngster, drawing from plaster
casts didn't hold my attention; so the Art Institute effort didn't last long.
I continued to paint, however, and on entering the university decided on a fine art major.
Now disciplined art study was no longer a chore. In fact, I relished the classes. It was
here I discovered the love of oil paint and the feel of canvas under the brush. I enjoyed
the camaraderie of the small group of art majors. The curriculum, touching on every
medium, studying the old masters, and visits to the local art museum, brought the entire
world of art to life for me.
To this day I still feel a thrill laying a watercolor wash and seeing the affect of
transparent pigment on fine white watercolor paper; and the same satisfaction from
picking up a brush loaded with oil paint and caressing the surface of a canvas. Whether
my compositions are planned and followed through to completion or spontaneous and
started with random patterns and shapes until the surface textures tell me what is
needed to make a painting, I derive the same satisfaction.
My life wouldn't be complete if I didn't paint. I am still having a love affair with art
| The Artist |
| A detail from a Southwest style painting |
| Welcome to my website |
The guitarist is Darryl Denning playing:
Study in E Minor by Francisco Tarrega, a selection
from Darryl's CD: Classical Guitar Artistry.
Study in E Minor by Francisco Tarrega, a selection
from Darryl's CD: Classical Guitar Artistry.
| LATEST WORK |
| "Pelican Flight" A familiar sight looking from the cliffs above the ocean in Santa Barbara. Painting is watercolor, size 22" x 30" on #300 Arches watercolor paper. |
| "Solvang Rainy Day" A great place to visit during the Christmas holidays. Colorful lights, quaint environment, (and occasional rain). Watercolor size 11" x 14" Our Christmas card 1011 |
| "Fall Bounty" I saw the still life as anything but static, contorted leaf shapes, strong color, and smooth to rough textures. I changed the drapery from white for a textural effect. Watercolor painting, size 22" x 24", on #300 Arches watercolor paper. |
| AN OBSESSION Sometimes I get hung up on a subject and just can't let go until I'e got it out of my system. These paintings represent just such an obsession, sort of an "end of the wild west, trails end" kind of thing. |
| A page in my watercolor sketch book, one of many where I am taking a subject I painted years ago and am working on trying to resolve it in a new way, not necessarily copying the earlier work, but trying to see it in a different light, hopefully richer from gained experience. |
| "Trails End #7" Watercolor, size 15" x 11", on Arches #300 watercolor paper |
| "Trails End #6" A mixed media painting, watercolor, rice paper collage, and acrylic, size 15" x 22" on Arches #300 watercolor paper. |
| BODIE The surviving remnants of this ghost town, a reminder of gold and silver mining boom times, have always fascinated me. Over the years I return to this subject time and again. |
| "Summer Rain" The store doesn't actually sit near the pumps but I felt it belonged there. The truck had been repainted, polished, and looked like new. My version with rust and wear seemed a better fit for a place like Bodie. This is a mixed media painting on canvas, acrylic and rice paper collage, size 24" x 30" |