Interview
Monday, June 01, 2009
What is your background, where are you from?
DG: I was born in Rhode Island and spent most of my life living along the New England coastline. I studied Marine Affairs at the University of Rhode Island then switched schools to study art and graphic design. I married my childhood sweetheart, who is also an artist, and we moved back to our hometown and have a beautiful daughter.
You’ve been described as a contemporary painter, photographer, a surf artist… How would you describe your own art?
DG: I describe my art as contemporary, abstract paintings inspired by my love of surfing. They are abstract interpretations of my relationship to being in, on, or near the ocean through all four seasons of the year.
What should people see when they look at your work?
DG: Since ancient times, people have felt the same universal desire to stand on the shore and gaze out at the ocean. For some, the ocean was a source of food, for others an avenue of commerce or conquest, or a route to faraway lands. For the lucky, like me, it is a source of pleasure and recreation. For most people, it represents something bigger than themselves. A vast, uncontrolable mystery.
When people look at my artwork, what they see will depend on their unique relationship to the ocean.
What is it about surfing that you love so much?
DG: The ocean is a giant force of nature that cares nothing about me, yet I am deeply and forever in love with it. When you are in the ocean surfing, you are riding energy. Negative ions from a storm that started thousands of miles away. The euphoria of battling the aggression released by a moving wall of water is addictive. It gives me peace. It’s my zen.
Your art takes a minimal and contemporary approach to the surf landscape, what made you approach the subject in the way you have?
DG: I’ve been drawing waves my whole life. For a long time I painted pretty pictures of the “perfect wave”, but I became bored and frustrated. They didn’t convey the true atmosphere of the ocean to me. I am lucky enough to have family in New York City. So after a trip to see some galleries in Chelsea, I was inspired by an encaustic artist, Betsy Ebbe, to try different techniques. When I got back to my studio, I painted over on of my “pretty wave” paintings and began to explore layering some of my photos into the artwork to create more of a story…a commentary about the weather, the moment, the waves from that day.
Your art has a very interesting multi-media/collaged feel to it, what materials do you use?
DG: The process I use to paint is called Encaustic. I paint with pure beeswax, resin and pigment that are fused into layers with various heating tools. I layer in photo transfers of weather reports, ocean swells or American beach culture and then fixed everything to a reclaimed wood frame.
The layers of pigmented wax allow light to pass through and reflect back up to the surface. So, the painting is actually illuminated from within delivering color in a way no other medium can. I find the encaustic to be an appropriate medium for painting the ocean due to its unpredictable nature.
Many of the paintings in this series are inspired by surfing in the Winter. Can you tell us a little more about winter surfing?
DG:. In New England, winter is the best season to surf for a few reasons. First, it takes a storm to make waves, and there are more storms in winter, usually. Second, only the truly addicted go out when it’s freezing. So, there is less competition for waves and no swimmers or body surfers to worry about like in the summertime.
It’s really not as bad as people think once you are in the water. The equipment has evolved over the years. The only part of your body that is exposed to the freezing wind and water is your face, which goes numb after the first duck dive. The coldest part of the experience is not the surfing itself, but changing out of your wetsuit.
The second you take off your mitts your hands start freezing. It’s hard to open the car with your key when you can’t feel your hands, and your brain is numb. When you finally get your hood off, your winter wetsuit becomes like a straight-jacket as you try shimmy out of it. It’s cold, but it’s worth it…being in the ocean while the sun sets with no one around but you and a few good friends
You also have a design and marketing agency with your wife. Do you plan to continue that or are you going to focus full time on painting?
DG: My wife and I have spent a real busy 6 years building our studio into a successful business. As a way of getting away from the fast pace world of graphics and web development, I started painting again as a form of relaxation at night in my basement. I think my years as a graphic designer have improved my work as a painter, but now that I am painting again, I feel like I need to make up for that “lost” time. I’ve had a lot of forward momentum in the past year since I started painting again. I’ve had several shows in local galleries and sold paintings all over the world through my website. My wife has taken over most of our marketing business duties so that I can focus on painting. It helps to have a supportive spouse.
What does the future hold for your art?
DG: I’m going bigger… much bigger. Up until now my paintings have all been under 3 feet, but now I am starting to paint big. The worldwide interest in the art of surf culture is really promising. In the next year I hope to make some connections with other artists and individuals in the surf industry. I also want to travel in order to photograph the oceans in other parts of the world to use in my paintings. I think there’s something about my work that everyone can relate to and enjoy. I also think that it can be seen and appreciated as fine art and not only as ‘surf art’, and hope to continue selling my work in mainstream galleries as well as surf culture art galleries.
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Yes Gallery Anniversary Show
Thursday, April 09, 2009
Please join us Friday April 10th from 7:00 - 9:00 p.m. to enjoy new work by our talented YES artists and guest exhibitors. Eat some yummy nibbles, drink wine, and be soothed by the vintage Hawaiian and tropical standards played live by Ricky Russo & The Mai Tai Serenaders. For more info about the event or artwork call Leigh at (401) 245-7174, visit http://www.yesgalleryandstudio.blogspot.com/ or email (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).
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How to paint with encuastic, oil, photo transfer by David Gonville
Sunday, March 01, 2009
Lots of people ask me how I paint with oil, encaustic bees wax and photo-transfers. My technique is always slightly different but here is a basic rundown. I documented the process for creating my painting titled “Cold Water Classic”.
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Artists block help trick with Photoshop
Thursday, February 19, 2009
I’ve been having a bit of “artists block” lately, been trying out different techniques, new paints, different palettes, painting smaller and larger formats all seems to help, but when I get really stuck I’ll take a photo of the painting I’m working on, load into Photoshop, to quickly add layers and try out different imagery This seems to help my workflow and gets me back on track quickly. Here is the painting before I work in layers in Photoshop.
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Artists block help trick with Photoshop
Thursday, February 19, 2009
Here is the painting with layers and imagery added in photoshop.
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Daily painting boxing
Monday, February 16, 2009
Daily painting of boxing, from photo recently shot at the PAL Golden Gloves in Fall River, Ma.
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One hour daily painting habit
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
Been trying to paint one small painting everyday, limiting myself to one hour to finish. Here are three I did from photos I shot at my Brother in laws (Brad Martin) Golden Gloves fight. It was at the PAL in Fall River Ma, this is the most amazing place to watch a fight, it is right out of a movie set! Finished in about an hour, working fast seems to go well with boxing imagery!
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January 4 2009 session
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
Had a chance to go or a surf last Week. it was 22 degrees, and the water was around 38ish. It was so cold but the waves were perfect and no crowds, just me and few of the locals! I Managed to take photos before and after I surfed, It doesn’t look cold in the photos but my hands froze while photographing. I have more on my Flickr page http://flickr.com/photos/gonville/
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