David R. Anderson
Moline, IL
I'm a plein air painter trying to capture on canvas the beauty that God created.
MessageSon of missionary parents, David R. Anderson was born in Bogota, Columbia, and lived 12 years in Venezuela. He was in the forth grade when he did his first painting – a church in the Venezuelan town of Rubio. His family moved to Omaha, Nebraska, where a high school art teacher recognized his talent and encouraged him to pursue a career in art. He went on to the University of Nebraska as an art major and then to the American Academy of Art in Chicago. After two years at the academy he was drafted into the Army. Impressed with the professionalism of a Marine recruiter, he joined the Marines. Following basic and infantry training he was accepted into the combat artist program and became one of a select group of five combat artists, serving in Vietnam. .
After returning from Vietnam, he continued his studies at the academy. He then moved to the Quad Cities to work as art director for Wilson and Lund advertising agency, and then joined John Deere advertising department. After working there for 33 years and painting when time permitted he retired in the fall of 2010 and is now pursuing his life long dream of painting full time.
Statement
Henry Moore once said “sculpture should always at first sight have some obscurities and further meanings. People should want to go on looking and thinking; it should never tell all about itself immediately.”
I love to walk outside in tune with all my senses waiting for that tingle in my spine that says this is where you should paint. To then look and find what I’m reacting to and try and capture the feeling on my canvas. It may be a dominant object, a shaft of sunlight, or a combination of factors.
To see the overwhelming complexity and select the simple abstract shapes and color harmony that creates a visual interpretation of this particular moment in time. This to me is the wonderful and challenging adventure I accept when I venture out to paint. Then to be able to share this with a viewer and see them experience a sense of discovery as they visually walk along with you
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