“Using watercolors for their transparency and loose suggestive qualities or oil paints for their opacity, texture and quality of brush stroke, I paint the people, places and things of small town, rural America. From the towering peaks of the Rocky Mountains, to the towering grain silos of Kansas or the small adobe casas of New Mexico, to the fishing boats in a marina on the Northern California coast, the cowboys of Montana, the bewhiskered bikers of Sturgis or the girls on the corner in Winslow, Arizona, it all has a story.With my painting kit I travel the back roads and by-ways of this great country of ours on my motorcycle, seeking out the character of my subject matter and capture it using the effect of light, shadow, shape and value. Often I get the information I need from roadside sketches or use those studies for more complex work back in my studio. I’m Mike Simpson, an artist on a Harley. Come with me as I paint my way along and I’ll tell you the tale of the people I meet, the places I go and the things I see.
In my pursuit of further developing my art career, and getting things back on track, I’ve been soliciting the help of one Alyson Stanfield of Boulder, CO, www.artbizcoach.com, who is an artist’s business coach, through her book, “I’d Rather Be in the Studio”. I’m currently on the 3rd read of this treasure trove and some of it is beginning to finally sink in. Early on she points out the need for artists to “brand” themselves. Create a unique identity to stand out from the masses all try to get you to take notice of them and their art. Establishing your brand in an Artist’s Statement will help do that.
Identity branding is a big deal these days, and rightly so I suppose. Everybody is creating a brand…an identity. Something to be known for. A recognizable image. You know, NIKE, COKE, PEPSI, FORD, CHEVY, DODGE, etc. etc. It’s the idea that when you see their logo or name, you know who they are and what they do. You don’t have to wonder about it. Household name, so to speak. The City of Montrose has a brand. “Look Deeper”, tying to the Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park. I paint for the park and they sell my notecards and prints in the visitors center.
About 10 years ago, I had the good fortune to have Mary Vaughn from The Trailside Gallery in Jackson, Wyoming look at my work. She was very complimentary on what I was doing and admitted that it would fit nicely in her gallery with the rest of the artist hanging there. The problem, she explained waving her hand across the walls bedecked with many beautiful paintings, was that she already had many good artists doing the same type of work. Looking around, I had to agree. “Bring me something different”, was her parting challenge. I spent a good part of the next several years taking some hard looks at what representational artists were painting and how they were doing and I finally decided that there were a lot of really good artists out there all vying for the same attention. I needed to do something different if I was ever going to stand out from the masses I was trying to compete with.
I approached it all wrong however. I thought I needed to paint differently so I could stand out. I tried and tried and tried…but I couldn’t. I gave up trying to be “different” and pretty much gave in to the idea that all though I felt the quality of my work could stand up to many, it just wasn’t going to “stand out”. Still knowing the need to “stand out”, I recently decided to look at myself and what I do. Turns out it isn’t how I paint my subject matter… but the story behind me and the subject matter I paint. THE STORY! BINGO! Everybody likes a good story and I’ve got lots of good ones to tell and this is mine.