Description
Steve grew up in Lead, a gold-mining town in western South Dakota. A football injury in tenth grade changed his direction from sports toward art and music. In the early days of his painting life he focused on portraits and figures but in the mid-1980’s when an artist friend suggested he try painting some landscapes, he discovered that subject matter to be challenging yet enjoyable. Now Steve primarily paints landscapes and since switching his skills have steadily improved.
Steve says that his style can be loosely described as impressionistic. His favorite definition of the term “impressionism” is “the placement of single strokes of paint that are the right color, the right shape, in the right spot,” which is what he tries to do in every painting. Most of his paintings are a combination of brushwork and palette knife. He also tries to paint on location as often as possible and to finish a painting all in one session. With all the information right in front of him, unaffected by the interpretation of a camera, Steve has learned to become very efficient and observant. This plein air, alla prima approach to painting has also added to the quality of his studio work as well.
Steve’s persistence and determination have allowed him to reach that next level of painting. With each painting he hopes affect the viewer’s emotions just as his were. He makes his living in this way and feels it suits him very well. In his opinion there are few things that compare to the freedom of being in the middle of your subject and free from the confines of an office or a time clock.