Bouquet of Bears, 2022

oil on canvas wrapped aluminum
60”x 60” (153cm x 153cm)

Bouquet of Bears, a square canvas filled edge-to-edge with a tight arrangement of bears of varying sizes and lusciously saturated colors, is a visual manifestation of my goal to never paint the same way twice. There are over a dozen teddy bears in the scene and each is entirely unique from its neighbor, boasting its own fur texture, energy, and personality. This was also the first painting into which I incorporated a few playful details that have been recurring in my subsequent work, such as the little tongues and fangs visible on some of the bears that give the piece an extra layer of joy.

The smallest teddy bear in the scene is a black bear just off-center, painted entirely with my special Hue Black color. Hue Black has no actual black pigment and is instead mixed by hand from a range of colorful paint… thus, the little guy contains in him the most color out of all his neighbors and, appropriately enough, the rest of the composition converges around him. If you stand in front of him at a “painter’s distance,” about 2 feet from the canvas, you will find yourself at the center of the pictorial light source and the entire scene will fall into place around you and visually engulf you.

I can confidently say that I grew massively as an artist while working on this painting, and I hope that the challenging and immensely rewarding creation process makes for a luxurious and inspiring viewing experience.