I first saw Robert Spooner's paintings almost four years ago and I must say, I've had my eye on him ever since.  Southwest Art just discovered him too and ran a full-feature article about him in the current (March 2006) issue.

Robert Spooner paints thick and lucious works.  He keeps everything loose and suggestive, just the way I like it.  I'm not a painter, so I can't pretend to get inside his mind.  But if I were a painter, I think I would make my life long artistic quest (regarding the technical side of my artwork) to see how loose I could go and still paint a work that has purpose and form while still reading as a masterful work of art.  I think it's akin to what many writers strive to accomplish - to get the message across in fewer words.  Whether in writing or painting, too much detracts from the focus of the work.  And in paintings I view, I don't want to waste time looking at the painting equivalent of babbling.  The point of my tangent here is that Robert does a fantastic job of highlighting his focal points while leaving many of the other details to be "filled-in" by the viewer's own imagination.

In the recent Southwest Art article, Robert called his approach of trying to paint without too many details ALLUSION.  "I'm always trying to paint the allusion of elements," he said.

Look at "Evening Wine."  You automatically look at the young woman's face because of what CW Mundy calls the "face factor."  But Robert has put the table and wine glasses in the brightest light, almost creating dual focal points, you look from the face to the wine...from the wine to the face.  What is she thinking about?  What or who is she looking at?  By my count there are six wine glasses on the table.  Is someone else there?  Notice that the rest of the painting is looser and has hardly any details, we're left to figure that out for ourselves.  "Evening Out" and "Double Duty" similarly draw us into the story and allow us to "participate" with Robert in creating the experience we ultimately have with his paintings.

Amazingly, Robert has been painting full-time only a few years, after honing his "chops" as a graphic designer.  Some people just have "it."

To view the paintings in this letter, to add Robert Spooner to your favorites, or for a link to his personal web site, please visit the link below.

View more Robert Spooner paintings:
http://www.webartsites.com/4/lp_371/skin_/pg_agregator-artistportfolio.html/qr1_artist-id=40


Sincerely,

Clint Watson
Software Craftsman and Art Fanatic

P.S. - I've watched Robert for a long time and now he's starting to get "discovered."  He's one I definitely recommend adding to your art collection.  I've secured a few of his paintings for you.  For the next few weeks you may purchase any of the paintings pictured here (and a couple of others by Robert as well) by visiting the link to his paintings above.  As a WebArtSites.com member, you'll enjoy that we've decided that we'll pay the shipping charges should you decide to aquire one of these paintings.