Bob Bayliss Painting

The answer might seem ironic given the amount of artifice involved in producing art, but I am completely sincere. Honest. Without the benefit of formal training, I learned my craft from years of interior design work. I admired loose textural paint application and appreciated harmonious colors. What I didn't like was the overweening attitude of the artists, their disdain for the customers and their reluctance to connect with anyone other than art dealers. I set out to integrate my work experience with the best external influences and the most acute perceptions I could muster. I studied great paintings, not only for technique, but to learn how one painter could take his vision and touch my soul with his craft. Van Ruisdael's Mill at Wijk and Turner's Calais Pier, for example, taught me how to paint clouds. While I know I will never paint at that level, the masters dared me to bring out my life and experience and put them on canvas. Currently, my paintings hang in the Brookville, Indiana library alongside works from the Hoosier Group.