I am proud to be… my father’s son, my mother’s pride and joy, my sisters’ favorite brother, my sisters’ only brother, my nephews’ uncle, my nieces’ tio, my cousins’ primo, my godson’s padrino, one who loves to write letters, one who loves to laugh, one who use to look at rocks for a living, a Texas State Bobcat, an NHIer, an LDZer, a beautiful shade of brown, a half decent photographer, an accidental artist, a total geek, a good friend, … and a Texan through and through.
MY QUEST It has always been my belief that the artist’s quest is to interpret every day images of life into visions of personal realities. Working long days in the isolated oilfields of South Texas, I found inspiration in the backdrops of the Texas sky. Oil rigs become symbols of daily contrasts and conflicts. By day, they are giant machines boring holes in the earth in an attempt to extract the energy necessary for modern civilized existence; at night they transform into inspiring, architectural dream-like illuminations.
I search to extract meaning from my daily surroundings, creating personalized, organic, and visual expressions. Through this quest, I have forged a path and created a personal technique to articulate my dreams. My works represent the core of individual expression – one person’s interpretation of how beauty can be found in everyday life!
MY JOURNEY
While I have always loved art… It was not until I began my career in the oilfield that I picked up a brush with the intent to truly paint. It began innocently enough. It began as a hobby… something I could do during the “downtime”. Whenever my presence or attention was not needed on the rig. During those windows of downtime I would take out my painting supplies and I would paint as much as I could.
Indeed, the oilfield has greatly influenced my painting not only in subject matter but in choice of materials and technique. I chose to work with acrylics because the paint would dry faster and I could clean my brushes quicker. I learned to paint quickly and purposefully (due to my limited window of rig downtime) and thus I honed my organic impasto technique. It seems that the oilfield and my art will forever be intertwined.
At first, it was only my friends and family that were the beneficiaries of my art. More often than not, it was they who were the recipients of the art that I created. Slowly but surely my art found more and more of an audience and more and more fans. I began to sell some of my pieces. I even began to receive invitations to exhibit.
By this time, painting had become my passion. I was spending more and more of my free time (away from the oilfield) creating art.
My painting had begun as a hobby… but it had quickly evolved into a passion and now it is slowly transforming into a profession.
My journey is not done... it has only just begun. I look forward to all the twists and turns and the adventures that await.