This painting from my early years is entitled "Elsa". In French, her name is pronounced "Elzah". Even though it is one of my early works, I am reintroducing this painting because it was created with my original style of painting with big bold outlines. Elsa was actually someone from Paris who was a great inspiration to me. If it had not been for her, I would never have even travelled to Paris and have become the artist I am today. As you can see, I created her with large bold lines. Much like a child paints in a coloring book tracing the bold outlines, I used HUGE oil crayons over my original drawing, creating a childlike oil painting as a young man who had just arrived home from Paris.  

 

I created this work prior to enrolling in art school. Unlike the joy and fun I was having creating art in my studio, I personally found the art school environment very "hostile". At first I couldn't understand why everyone was so seemingly angry at me. From the moment I walked into art school I was constantly scolded and yelled at for not following the rules of art. I didn't know art had so many rules! For example, instead of painting from my imagination, I was expected to paint "realism". So I kept being reprimanded for painting like a child. I was constantly being yelled at and being told what I couldn't do as an artist. I was told I should NEVER use BOLD black lines! 

 

"If you want to be taken seriously,

you can't continue to paint with those bold black lines!"

 

I wasn't doing it on purpose. So I kept being ordered not to use BOLD black lines, and I absolutely had to stop making my paintings look "flat"! But I liked them that way. Besides, that was what all the art collectors loved so much about my paintings. That was my unique style of art. So I had to keep my mouth shut and just obey and do as I was told.... But in my mind I kept wondering, "Who made all these rules anyway?"

So I was in a constant dilemma. I felt totally intimidated, uncomfortable, and criticized for not being accepted for who I truly was. I was very sensitive. Each day I literally kept being sent home crying after class. One morning I finally got tired of feeling inadequate and sorry for myself. So I had a choice to make, either I obey all the rules and paint like everyone else or I go out and get a real job and just give up on this "art thing".  Fortunately, I chose to BE MYSELF. Ironically, even though I was constantly ridiculed and laughed at and chastised for this bad habit of creating paintings with bold black lines, outside of art school the bold black lines in my work instead were being compared to Matisse, Picasso, Toulousse-Lautrec, and even Manet who also had painted with blocks of black before me (see comparison below).