Tranquility For an Uncertain Time
I grew up in Central Florida and came to Tallahassee to attend FSU in 1977. I never left. Most people in this area know me as an attorney. Most of them don’t know I’m an artist, but I have been painting for thirty years. I work in oils and I paint mostly Florida coastal and rural landscapes. I’m a self-taught artist. My training was in doing – paint, paint, paint - lots and lots of time with a brush in my hand. It is not in my nature to just dabble. If I’m going to do something, I am going to want to master it, and that is what I am still doing. I began selling my work in galleries, but I started doing art festivals fifteen years ago and loved it. I love the energy and the feedback. I get to see what people react to – what stops them in their tracks. At shows I get two consistent comments from patrons entering my booth. The first is: “Now this is the real Florida”. I think that comes from the fact that I know the real Florida. In my paintings I see the Florida of my youth. I’m a kid in the back of the station wagon going to Grandmother’s house. There is mystery and wonder at all that space out there. But I am not interested in documentation. I more focused on the poetry of the place. I want the painting to communicate something of
the mood and feel of the time and place. The second consistent comment is: “Your paintings are so calm”. I think that is because painting has been my therapy. It kept me sane from the chaos of my real life. In that life there was stress. In the other life side my brain was saying “we need some peace in
here”. I retired from the law practice in 2023, but I still work every day in my studio. They say the best kind of retirement is when you can do something you love and people will play good money for your efforts. That’s where I’m at now. I was recently honored to have three paintings purchased by the Florida Supreme Court Historical Society. One of those paintings now hangs in the Florida Supreme Court Law Library and the other two hang in the rotunda and can be seen as soon as you enter the building. As a lawyer I never got to argue at the Supreme Court. I consider these paintings a greater honor.
For this show at Jefferson Arts Gallery I’m showing a lot work from around this area both rural and coastal scenes. I’m a fisherman and I regularly fish the Aucilla River(Jefferson County’s eastern border). It’s a beautiful river and a majestic place. As a painter I want to communicate the beauty of the place, but that is not an easy thing to do. When you look out across miles of marsh, it is mostly just a flat horizon. How do I make that a painting? That is my aim. Come see how I did. You can follow me at my website, SteveAndrewsArt.com, or on Instagram at @SteveAndrewsArt.
I grew up in Central Florida and came to Tallahassee to attend FSU in 1977. I never left. Most people in this area know me as an attorney. Most of them don’t know I’m an artist, but I have been painting for thirty years. I work in oils and I paint mostly Florida coastal and rural landscapes. I’m a self-taught artist. My training was in doing – paint, paint, paint - lots and lots of time with a brush in my hand. It is not in my nature to just dabble. If I’m going to do something, I am going to want to master it, and that is what I am still doing. I began selling my work in galleries, but I started doing art festivals fifteen years ago and loved it. I love the energy and the feedback. I get to see what people react to – what stops them in their tracks. At shows I get two consistent comments from patrons entering my booth. The first is: “Now this is the real Florida”. I think that comes from the fact that I know the real Florida. In my paintings I see the Florida of my youth. I’m a kid in the back of the station wagon going to Grandmother’s house. There is mystery and wonder at all that space out there. But I am not interested in documentation. I more focused on the poetry of the place. I want the painting to communicate something of
the mood and feel of the time and place. The second consistent comment is: “Your paintings are so calm”. I think that is because painting has been my therapy. It kept me sane from the chaos of my real life. In that life there was stress. In the other life side my brain was saying “we need some peace in
here”. I retired from the law practice in 2023, but I still work every day in my studio. They say the best kind of retirement is when you can do something you love and people will play good money for your efforts. That’s where I’m at now. I was recently honored to have three paintings purchased by the Florida Supreme Court Historical Society. One of those paintings now hangs in the Florida Supreme Court Law Library and the other two hang in the rotunda and can be seen as soon as you enter the building. As a lawyer I never got to argue at the Supreme Court. I consider these paintings a greater honor.
For this show at Jefferson Arts Gallery I’m showing a lot work from around this area both rural and coastal scenes. I’m a fisherman and I regularly fish the Aucilla River(Jefferson County’s eastern border). It’s a beautiful river and a majestic place. As a painter I want to communicate the beauty of the place, but that is not an easy thing to do. When you look out across miles of marsh, it is mostly just a flat horizon. How do I make that a painting? That is my aim. Come see how I did. You can follow me at my website, SteveAndrewsArt.com, or on Instagram at @SteveAndrewsArt.