THE WORK                                  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

THE ARTIST’S MENU

By: Bryan Child

The Artist’s Menu was designed and created by Bryan Child to give you a taste of some of his past and current works. He will take you through his ever-changing styles and explain what ingredients he places in his passion for art. So sit back, enjoy the coffee and follow along on his journey of interesting and emotional thoughts.

Hello,

   First of all let me thank you for showing interest in what I do for the world of art. It means so much that I can share with you my thoughts, beliefs and emotions. It’s the only way that I know how to express myself in the way that I do. I have created this menu to show you how I began all of this and what my styles represent.

THE BASIC INGREDIENTS

  • EMOTIONS  AND FEELINGS

  To you, the paintings may come across different than they would for me. You may see something that I don’t. That’s what is so special about art. People take what they need from it and explore their emotions and feelings in different ways. In math, everyone knows that 2+2=4. But in art, there is no science, there is no right and wrong. There are no boundaries and there isn’t just one method of doing things. It’s how you the artist or you the viewer perceive the work. Everyone has the talent. The talent comes from emotions and feelings. We’ve all written a love note or a filled out a .99 cent card to give to someone you care about. Those are true emotions and feelings. That’s the heart of art. That’s the big secret. People just express themselves in different ways whether it’s on a canvas, in a poem or just by their personality.

  •  INSPIRATION

  Inspiration can come to you in many forms from music, visualization or a dream. Most of mine come from music and dreams. They just sort of pop in my head and wake me up in the middle of the night. Just a note, you should always try to carry a pad of paper with you everywhere just incase that million dollar idea comes and goes.

  • DRAWING

  I always hear “I wish I could draw”. That seems to be the most common phrase you hear when someone views your work. Trust me, drawing is not the main ingredient to being a good artist. Again, it’s the feelings and emotions that created the drawing. You know, you can do a lot with just a stick figure. Whenever I create a figure of any kind I always start with the ordinary stick figure. Sometimes I’ll keep the character looking like a stick figure with no face and no expression because the personality of the character is irrelevant. What’s important is what the character is going through at the moment. Don’t sweat the drawing, that will come when you put yourself in the characters shoes.

  • PRACTICE AND TECHNIQUE

  Practice and Technique go hand in hand. You can’t really have one without the other. All I’ve got to say is just keep practicing, practicing and practicing. The techniques will find themselves into your work and they’ll also change from time to time and that’s ok, it broadens your ideas, capabilities and barriers.

  •  NOW JUST STIR AND MIX

  Now that you have the main ingredients just sir and mix them together. Don’t be afraid of screwing up or making something that no one else could understand but you. It’s your idea and its how you see it. That’s what’s important.  Just draw or paint something that you feel passion for and try to enter into the world that you just created with your brush. You’ll find out that will be a place of sanctuary for you because it’s the true you. Just remember…Art is abyss, there is no end to what you can do. Explore your Emotions and feelings to there fullest…and have fun.

  Now I will take you through some samples of styles that I do and give my feelings and emotions on what I see when I create them. So please just flip through some of my the painting thumbnails to get an idea of what I see. I hope you enjoy...

   ANGELS/ABSTRACT

  This is where it all started for me. These angels are the most difficult paintings I’ve ever had to do, probably because I didn’t want to do them. I did them out of pure emotion, sadness and sensitivity. So much so that I have a hard time wanting to go back to that kind of an emptiness. Please read “THE REAL ME” if you would like to understand a little more about how I came about the vision of these particular angels.

  These angels are about love, caring and beauty. They have no sadness. All they do is give themselves to you when you need them. They’ll watch over you and protect you. There is calmness about them when you view each painting. These are my favorite paintings I’ve ever done.

  DANCERS

  The dancers represent the ability to do things beyond the ordinary. They have beauty and charisma. They also represent the mobility to keep moving forward onto new and exciting territory.

  Their colors are pale with a soft edge to them. They are faceless because it’s not the personality of the character I’m trying to make the viewer explore; it’s all about what they do and who they are.

   FLORAL

  With my floral compositions I like to consistently go back and forth between abstract and more of a still life reality. The beauty of a flower arrangement in anyway shape or form is full of life and can be distorted to make it even more interesting.

   FIGURATIVE AND CUBISM ABSTRACT

  These paintings are really fun to create. They make they eye keep moving and give the brain a run for it’s money. With abstract, I love that you have no rules to follow. They just sort of take on a personality of their own. You can’t draw these up and expect to know how they are going to turn out. They sort of paint themselves onto the canvas. You can place what you feel is necessary and add objects just to make the painting more interesting. These can be a challenge!

   OBSTRUCTIVE VIEWS/ABSTRACT

  These paintings are ones that you can’t visualize and understand by just looking at them. They have an “emotional block” if you will to them that only the artist can understand. I’ll give these paintings some unusual titles to enhance the complexity of meaning behind each one.

   THE FACELESS/ABSTRACT

  I always hear “why don’t you paint faces on some of your characters”? The reason is simply because; as you go through life you meet so many people that you will never remember you met.  They are the people that walk past you on the street or that drive past you in their car everyday. They are the people that are standing in line behind you at the grocery store; you know their presence is there but you know nothing about them. Point being; there are so many people and faces in this world that our minds become reluctant to remember what we’ve seen and who we have met.

   ABSTRACT/CONTEMPORARY

  A "real" abstract painting (to me) are paintings that are not thought up. It is the concept of a paintbrush full of color touching an empty canvas with nothing but an imagination of confidence. These paintings can be tricky, even though it looks like the artist just took their brush and splashed the canvas with paint; there are certain points and messages the artist is trying to relay to the viewer. It can be difficult to try to bring across the meaning of the work but in the same instance it’s nice to hear the viewer’s outlook of what it means to them.

   EARTH TONES/ABSTRACT

  These are part of my newest works. These paintings are more subtle and have a calming sense to them. I try to contrast them with a bold color such as crimson or a darker blue just to make that the highlight of the painting. These paintings represent relaxation and mental stimulation. They are placed on the wall to bring you back into reality. Breathe in…breathe out…you are relaxed.

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DINNER SERVED

  These paintings are some small examples of who and what I’m about. I hope you as the viewer make up your own stories and meanings behind my paintings.  That’s what it’s all about. It’s all what you make of it. It really doesn’t matter what I wrote on these pages. Enter your world of imagination and open all the doors.

  Thanks for letting me share with you my ideas and conceptsGOD BLESS

 Bryan Child