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Greg Stones
Biography
Greg Stones is a graduate
of Bates College where he majored in Studio Art and minored in Music.
Since 1997 he has spent his time working full-time as an artist. Stones
chooses to work primarily in miniature because he feels that watercolor
is more easily controlled when confined to a small area. However, such a
small scale also forces Stones to truly focus on each painting, and
block out the rest of the world. Stones comments, “People tend to
respond to the humor, nostalgia, pathos, and beauty in my work, for
which I am incredibly grateful.”
Stones likes to tell
stories. That is an important part of how he works. He enjoys the power
his work has to cause a reaction in the viewer. Having painted almost
every day for many years, Stones finally feels that all of the ideas and
methods he has explored over the years have gelled into a fluid means of
saying exactly what he wants to say. Although it is certainly enough for
his paintings to be simply beautiful, he enjoys a painting even more
when it has something to say.
Early in his life, Stones
aspired to be a cartoonist. With that eye, he takes in everyday life,
and that is what he draws on and translates into the subject matter for
his paintings. The painting process itself is quite simple. Stones
sketches an image on a fresh sheet of paper, fills in the darkest
shadows with India ink, and then finishes by layering on the watercolor.
A painting can take anywhere from one to more than nine hours of work.
“Beauty in itself can
be a statement pointing to the way life should be. However, placing a
figure in a landscape is a great way to create a Rorschach-like
narrative.”
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