Statement

My paintings are about color, reflections, texture, transparency, translucency, all the effects of light. Some of my paintings of candy wrappers, ribbons and colored tissue paper verge on abstraction, even though they started with careful observation.  

I paint from reality, not using photographs. I paint with oil paint on canvas, which has the flexibility to let me create what I want. Its slow drying time allows working back into it, wet-into-wet, my primary way of painting.

I am influenced by Janet Fish and Wayne Thiebaud, among contemporaries and Spanish and Dutch artists of the 1700s. Other favorites are Chardin, Henri Fantin-Latour and Emil Carlsen.

I have drawn and painted all my life. I’m very happy to be able to paint full time now.

Website: www.douglasnewtonpaintings.com  

What initially compelled you to pursue art?

I’ve drawn and painted all my life. When I was working as an advertising art director, mostly pre-computer, I drew ads and storyboards most of the day. On the side I was doing life drawing and painting.

Who or what in your life influences your practice the most?

Janet Fish is the single biggest influence on my painting. Her complex and colorful still lives still knock me out.

What do you feel is the key concept that connects your works?

See the beauty in the ordinary. Looking at the overlooked, from the Dutch artists until now, artists have found inspiration in the everyday reality.

Tell us about a moment that ultimately made you look at your art and/or practice differently.

When I started painting candy and their wrappers and finding a new world in the colors, textures, reflections and transparency.

What does your art give you that nothing else can?

Appreciating the beauty all around us and capturing it in the magic of oil paint.