Much of the work that our artists accomplish for a summer season is actually created during the winter months. For many, the snow in New England brings quality and uninterrupted studio time. Summer is for celebration and winter is for work. With that said, we do continually receive new works from our artists from October to May. We keep our website up-to-date as they come in, and we post these new works on our social media sites. This February, in particular, found one of our artists very productive. And lucky for us, he agreed to send a few of his newest pieces to Kennebunk.
Trip Park tries to paint seven days a week. If he is lucky, he can finish one new piece a day. It doesn’t always happen, but having the goal is important to Park.
“I’m going to quote Ralph Steadman again,” says Park. Steadman is a British artist Park enjoys. “He said, ‘Simply start a drawing and it will come out (on) the other end somehow. I won’t know how it is going to come out, and that’s the fascination – that makes it a worthwhile pursuit. If I knew what was going to happen before I started what would be the point of doing it?’ How cool is that? It’s a great way of disarming your psyche. I try to remember this throughout every painting. Blank canvases are like bullies, and I hate bullies! Every day is like a tiny ass-kicking on the playground for me.”
With that attitude, it is easy to see why the creative juices have been flowing in Park’s studio this winter. He is a perfect example of the celebration of summer coming out in the work of winter.
“When I was visiting Maine, I noticed little pops of color out of the corners of my eyes. It turned out that within all of these massive crates of wire and steel mesh of all these lobster traps, there were these brightly painted lobster buoys all over the docks,” says Park. “I thought to myself, there’s no way people would find a painting of those interesting, but I had to try it. I think I’ve done over fifty variations of them, now.”
Like Park’s ‘Buoy’ series, the colors and characters of Maine continue to appear in his work. He claims that it’s hard not to love a variety of color all at once. This is obvious in these new works, Storm Rider and Nomad. He is always consciously aware of what he sees and observes, keeping a running tally of ideas and concepts that are “on deck” and the next things up after his current pieces in progress.
“I love finding that combination of things I’ve done and new things I have not tried. However, I don’t attempt any painting I don’t want to create. I have to love each one, even just the thought of it, going in,” says Park. “I try to change things up with every painting, you could call it free-flowing. Paintings I do that make me happy are the ones that jump out and feel different than what I’ve done before.”
Chesapeake Charms and Lilac Lover are wonderful examples of trying something new. If you know Trip Park’s work, these pieces are obviously his. Style and design are familiar, but there is new content and a fun energy in them that makes them unique. Of course as a gallery, we are always wondering what is coming next.
“My life is going to go where that creative inspiration takes me,” says Park in response to this. “I have no control over it, it’s just the nature of creating something out of nothing. As long as I work to my fullest potential every day… I’m happy.”
And so are we.
We invite you to wander down to Kennebunk during the next few weeks. The sun even comes out sometimes! We are open year-round, but check the website for specific times. As always, you can view our entire collection of work from Trip Park on our website. www.maine-art.com.
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