Warren Smay

Artist Statement

I enjoy painting primarily for the challenge of it. This is why you would rarely see a series from me or a cohesive style. Each composition is chosen for what challenges it presents to me as a painter. I like details. I like layers, like streams of light through water or light hitting a window that's reflecting people and objects from inside. The wispy nature of feathers on a bird or a sea turtle shell reflected by the surface of the water. I love the way a shadow is bent and twisted by the odd surface it falls on. I love to paint distant mountains where sharp objects in warm light is replaced with the cool blues in the distance. I like painting light streaming into a dark forest through holes in the foliage hitting objects and water on the ground.

I want people to like my paintings but I am more interested in them being curious about them.

Biography

St Petersburg FL based artist, I can't help but notice the details. Whether it's a reflection on bent chrome, a shadow cast across jagged or multi-colored surfaces, a view distorted by smoke or water, fooling the mind's eye in a two-dimensional painting is the challenge I seek. I am a self-taught artist from a family of artists, took up oil painting in 2016 after years of pen and ink, watercolor and even sculpture. Now I focuses exclusively on oil painting. The virtually unlimited ability to blend and create hues and tones gives me the ability to get the details I want.

Exhibition History (CV)