Artist Profile: Gary Bewley
I am not sure where my artistic aspirations or love of painting originated. I do not know of anyone in my family who was particularly interested in art. Yet, like the old Jim Reeves song lyric, I have always been drawn to painting “like a moth to a flame.” I have especially loved painted portraits.
I have always been drawn to a face – the eyes, the angles, the expressions, and the stories they seem to tell. In portraiture, I want to capture something beyond physical features: something of the person’s character and individuality.
When I think about where this fascination began, I remember pulling out the same well-worn volumes of the Funk & Wagnalls Encyclopediaagain and again and studying the faces of people such as Abraham Lincoln and Andrew Jackson. I wish I had a dollar for every time I picked up a pencil and tried to recreate those images on paper. In school, I was always captivated by painted portraits in history books. Whenever I encountered a portrait hanging on the wall of a place I visited, I would stop and study it.
It was not until high school that I had the opportunity to take art classes. I did not always receive the highest marks, but those classes introduced me to working with paint. My first paintings were admittedly crude, but I seemed to have enough innate ability to capture a recognizable likeness when I drew or painted someone. I learned that portraiture is considered one of the most demanding artistic disciplines, but that only strengthened my desire to keep learning.
I am still learning. I am constantly striving to improve, studying the work of other artists and looking for ways to broaden my skills. In my early years, I worked primarily with acrylics. Eventually, I began experimenting with oils, a medium I had inexplicably feared. I quickly discovered that oil had become my favorite. Learning to recognize and mix the subtle variations in tones greatly improved my portraits, although I know there is still much more to learn.
There is also a certain bravery involved in portraiture. Recently, I attempted to recreate a painting I have admired for years – a portrait of General George Patton that is prominently displayed at the Patton Museum at Fort Knox. I was greatly encouraged by the result, although the pursuit of perfection remains a demanding taskmaster.
What I love most about painting for myself is the freedom it provides. When I paint simply because I enjoy it, without any other motive or expectation, I believe I do my best work. Yet I am never completely satisfied with what I create. Perhaps that dissatisfaction is part of what keeps me painting – always looking, learning, and trying to improve.
Other artists have told me how much they enjoy the act of painting and the comfort it brings them. I understand that completely. There is nothing quite like it. How many cold, gloomy winter days have been warmed simply by holding a brush to the canvas and watching, hopefully, as it comes to life? How many times has my heart been lifted by the realization that this is a day when I can paint and, for a while, forget the nagging pressures of life?
I am honored to have been a multiple award winner in the Kentucky Museum art shows held each year at WKU. This year, my painting Glorious Takeoff received second place. I am grateful for that recognition, but the greatest reward remains the act of painting itself.
Someone once said that a photograph may capture a perfect physical likeness, but a painting honors it. That thought speaks deeply to why I paint. I learn to love the people I portray, and through my portraits, I hope to honor them – to capture something of who they are and preserve, in my own way, the memory of the person behind the face.
-submitted by the artist
