Featured Artist Tom Hanson

Tom Hanson’s acrylic on canvas paintings feature landscapes and imagery that flow with color and texture.  Enjoy more of his dynamic art by visiting his website.

 

 

My goal from the very beginning has been to find a way to spend my life doing what I love doing for a living, and that is creating art. Early on I found a niche for creating art in offices and commercial businesses, which grew into larger corporate facilities, medical centers, and corporate collections. I found architectural & interior design product trade shows, making calls on architects, interior design offices, facilities planners and property developers as a viable path.

 

 

With the commissioned works, I design the art work to occupy and enhance interior wall spaces in a number of genres, from the figurative works of landscapes and natural scenes to abstracts and non-objective designs, often in collaboration with the design team and client.

 

 

It’s a balancing act, bridging the commissioned works with the studio works, “the art for art’s sake vs. the commercially designed works.”

 

 

My studio works are art for art’s sake. I dedicate a period of time in the studio where I create my art for the sake of the art, the Jazz if you will, which gives birth to many of the ideas that grow and morph in many directions.

 

 

My abstract Fly Collection is one of those examples, I developed the Fly’s in the studio as a response to my love of fishing and the outdoors.  It’s found an audience and grown into a collection of originals and published works that have become successful art products marketed globally.

 

 

I like to work in multiple genres, which can increase your audience and the likelihood of selling your work and expand your following. However many art marketing purists believe that it makes you look schizophrenic, and they may have a hard time placing you, or understanding who you are. That dilemma is understandable, but after 36 years full time as a studio artist, I see it as “Tools in the Tool Box”, use your tools, and develop new ways of communicating artistically and create new products.

Obviously, it behooves an artist to strive for continuity in all the bodies of work that they are developing, in all genres.

 

 

Technique-wise, I’m working with big impasto textures on my canvases. The big textures create a wonderful sense of depth, in both abstract and figurative works. I build up the texture with pure paint, modeling paste and other polymer materials.  Applying the materials with palette knives & various tools, I create this huge textural depth.

 

 

Using both wet on wet and wet on dry techniques, then working with washes, much like watercolors, building up the color with opacity allows me to create enhanced layers of depth as well. The acrylic mediums are ideal for me, as they are quick drying water base, vibrant colors and are non-toxic.

 

 

Over the years my work has continued to evolve, as does the marketing. In addition to the pursuing architectural market, I’m constantly developing new art products and seeking out new markets, galleries and online platforms to market and sell my work.

 

Tom Hanson invites you to follow him on his Blog, Facebook and Pinterest.

 

 

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