Tybee Island Art Guild

At my urging, dear friends Jeff and Carol took up the brush in one of my "Rah, Rah, Ya-gotta-try-this"  regarding the therapeutic benefits of painting.  And those crazy kids actually went out and got the materials to try it.  I struck up a challenge to Carol to try 4 paintings and she has now done 2.  Jeff has one under his belt and I was tickled to see the fruits of their labor on his website a while back.  I leached onto his pictures and am posting them today.     

This does my heart good.  I have known Jeff for several decades now and I can attest to his earnestness when tackling a new project.  He will do his damnedest learn what one must and and then tackle the project with gusto.  More than anyone else I know, he is "All-In" on new endeavors.   

Carol has been doing cement stone works and quilts for a long time and has mastered those efforts, so I knew she would do well with a new artistic pursuit.  

These are the latest works from the Sutor artist garrett.  

Never having ever taken an art class I do not profess to be a critic.  I just go with what I like when I see it.  If asked what my favorite artist was I'd probably ask if I could do one for classic and one for modern.  I like the blackness and play of light Caravagio perfected in his time.  For modern I really like Edward Hopper.   

Jeff's painting above is colorful and symbolic.  Having worked in the correctional setting his painting above shows prison bars and a pile of rocks.  Jeff displayed a little whimsy for his first effort, but what really catches my eye are the rocks.  He actually shows, at least in my mind, a pretty good idea of how light is diffused on uneven surfaces.   That's not always easy to display on canvas, and his first effort screams for more!

Carol is more in the Expressionist school with big bold colors and large subjects encompassing her canvas.  Her subjects are barely able to contain themselves within the boundaries of the canvas and the colors are almost electric.  

I am quite pleased that I was able to prod (nag, harass) the Sutors in the direction of personal art and hope, fervently, that they continue.  Not for me, or family or friends, but for themselves.  In the few minutes and hours one dabbles with brush in hand, I swear it makes one relaxed but also almost manic in the creation and birth of something real.  My only word of advise, continue…..please.

Perhaps someday in the art history books we'll see this picture of Mr. Sutor in his artist's garret.