I have always been inspired by what our lives give us on a daily basis: stress, love, relationships, society, politics and even death. All these things play a major role in how and what I create. I express my art without hesitation thru painting, drawings and sculpture. I still love the feel of the paint on the brush as well as on my hands. My paintings are a direct correlation to what’s happening in my life and yours; what’s happening in our society as well as our own homes. I don’t paint objects and “things,” I paint events that happen in my life and or yours. My process is usually one of turmoil, then discovery, then turmoil, then destruction, then peace and, finally, acceptance. I may start with a sketch from my book or directly on the canvas. Either way, I won’t know the outcome until I’m there. I’m an artist working with canvas and paints, and the excitement of the process is still what thrills me to go to the studio every day. My work sometimes begs to be defined, to ask or answer questions.  I want my images to provoke, be elusive, have some ambiguity, move the inner you, and even make you recoil at times. I try to let the paint be paint and not get in its way. As Philip Guston says, “Let your 3^rd hand do the painting.” I have claimed my place by the fire and make no excuses. I don’t think about what to paint or how to paint it anymore. I let the process take over for a journey I’m willing to take. I have painted for the past 30 years in 6 different states, including painting “Plein Air” at Georgia O’Keeffe’s “Ghost Ranch” in New Mexico.

  Born in Hammond Indiana, I grew up in a lower middle-class neighborhood. Aware at a very young age of the need to express myself, I started drawing and painting everything I could. I also had a love for football that I mistakenly thought that would take me to college. After high school, told I had to make a choice between sports and art, I attended the American Academy of Art in Chicago, Ill and later the Art Institute of Ft Lauderdale, Fl. where I studied graphic design and fine art. I am an advocate for people with Alzheimer’s Disease, and on the speaker’s bureau for the Alzheimer’s Association. The father of 5 boys, I create from my home studio, residing with my wife and two dogs in St Charles, Missouri.  Learn more at www.tedagillespie.art

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