BIOGRAPHY OF: STEVE LARSON,
ARTIST/PAINTER/PRINTMAKER
 For over thirty years Mr. Larson has been creating original
watercolor and oil-paintings from small (7"x 11") to murals over forty
feet in length utilizing a full-range of subject matter; such as:
LANDSCAPES:
sunsets, sunrises, mountains, trains in landscapes, people in landscapes, farm
scenes, birds in landscapes, NUDES in landscapes, water in landscapes,
city-scenes...also
FLORAL PAINTINGS: roses, water-lilies, peonies,
day-lilies, wild-flowers, gladiolas, orchids, daffodils, and many more painted
indoors and outside...also
PORTRAITS: oil or watercolor paint, just
the head
or full body, inside or outside, clothed or naturalist, any size...also
STILL-LIFE:
oil or watercolor paint, please see samples...also
DECORATIVE PAINTING:
such as stenciling (stencils are custom made by artist) and decorative murals
which are painted either directly on the wall or on substrates attached later to
walls; also found in this section is "decorative tile"-a new skill
developed since moving to the South West. Only a small sampling of this body of work (Mr. Larson has created
approx. 3,000 paintings between teaching art-classes and renovating houses)
could be presented in these web-pages but if you are searching for an artist to
create a
SITE- SPECIFIC- MURAL or any other commissioned two-dimensional
painting, just click-on a thumbnail and take a look at the bigger picture!
Reproductions are available as Gicle e
Prints on Canvas or Watercolor Paper.
(See: "Contact Us/To Order" link)
In June, 2003, I resumed work in my mountain studio on the Oil-Painting shown
below (unfinished with a dirt floor) on a 3ft. x 4ft. oil-paint portrait of a
Dentist & his wife composed of a group of snap-shots they took traveling
through France & Europe (the painting was completed July 4th). Click on the image below-left to see
full-page and more about
this painting.
I'd like to encourage more people to send me photos of themselves traveling
for a new category of portraiture I'll call: "ROMANTIC REALISM TRAVEL
PORTRAITURE"! Dig through your old photos and imagine the
potential!
For more specific information: Awards, Exhibits, TV & Radio appearances, see
Fourth Page of Resume
|
|
Photograph of Artist, Steve Larson standing in front of
a six ft. x 3.5 ft. oil-painting of "Thirteen Cows standing in a
River" which is part of a larger Private Collection purchased
over a period of 25 years, now in Portland,
Oregon. |
*Additional
Notes & Updates (additional CHRONICLE of
Artist's life can be found at the bottom of page 4 of resume):
Once we'd sold the
commercial building in 2003 and moved back to the mountain property we realized we
needed a slightly larger off-the-grid power system to use our computers, so I purchased a larger older
style H40 wind generator on sale from the internet. After researching wind
towers online and finding nothing practical or affordable for our 9,400 ft.
altitude I decided to design my own. While solving the
problem of raising and lowering a small wind tower for inevitable maintenance
(such as burned-out bearings) by myself
in our remote location, I invented a totally new design with a guidance system
for the tower and also the world's only "side-of-building" small wind tower
design. I was so happy with the results that I patented the design and created
an LLC to manufacture and sell towers to other people off the grid.
Two years (2008) after creating the LLC and Hinged-Guided Wind Towers website
responding to an average of 3 to 5 inquiries per week without being paid for a
single tower sale; I realized despite the general lack of necessity for high
wind towers (above 40 feet) in the mountains. People believed there was this
mystical constant gulf-stream of wind at 80 ft. to 100 ft. so they wanted high
towers anyway. However, I wasn't qualified to install higher towers. So, I went
to school out of state in OK during the summer of 2008 and got certified as an
NCCCO hydraulic crane operator. Since Artwork is generally perceived as a
"luxury" item, sales had dropped to nothing with the recession in 2008 and I'd
hoped sales of wind towers would compensate for the loss. Unfortunately people
still didn't "pay" for my wind towers so I finally closed the website and
dissolved the LLC this Feb. 2010. I began seeking employment on large wind power
sites wherever I could get hired as a hydraulic crane operator. Two days after I
returned home from a month on a large wind farm in TX my wife fell and shattered
the wrist of her dominant hand into 21 pieces. With our house in the CO
wilderness and no health insurance I stayed home to help with her recovery
and drive her to work everyday for three months so she wouldn't lose her job.
When I began searching for employment again the housing crash and economic
recession that followed had decimated the construction industry. Although I'd
found a short-term crane operator job on the Gulf of Mexico at the beginning of
2009, employers had added the requirement of a CDL (commercial driver's
license), which I didn't have and couldn't afford. Consequently, I was still unemployed by May
2009 and we had to file for Chapter 7 Bankruptcy on my
birthday. Another short-term of employment followed on another large wind farm
but since the job market advantage was clearly with employers the
"qualifications" for employment changed from 1 to 2 years as an operator to 3 to
5 years. With no credit anymore
after the bankruptcy, my ability to travel over 1,200 miles to take a job and
pay for an RV campsite for a week to ten days before getting my first paycheck was
no longer possible. March of 2010, unable to find funding to pay for CDL school so that
I can find crane employment again I decided since I'd been doing oxy/acetylene
welding since I was 13 years old but had never been certified, that I could use
these skills to create and install "Percent for Art" sculptures. I went back to
school again in the Spring of 2010 and became a certified STICK/MIG/TIG Welder.
In the Summer of 2010 I was appointed "Manufacturer's Representative" for an
Engineering and Fabrication company to sell Wind Towers (see website:
www.windtowerpowerusa.com ).
I turned 60 yrs. old May of 2010 and despite claims of "no age discrimination" from
"human resource" departments, those of us in this age bracket know otherwise.
Considering the general lack of humanity, conscience and integrity in the labor
market, I have put my faith in myself relying on the skills that I've spent the
last 38 years developing to bring esthetically pleasing artwork into the world.
MY
2011 NEW YEARS RESOLUTION FOLLOWS: I
will focus my future employment search on Teaching Art & Decorative art
techniques, using my MFA-Master of Fine Arts. I have a "Slide-in Truck-Bed"
RV camper that I live in while working on jobs away from home.
On this website I
will soon be introducing new categories of artwork. I have (for example) my own
printing press and will soon be photographing my etchings and relief prints to
exhibit them on this site. I am hopeful with the addition of new categories and products that my artwork and teaching orders
will soon increase.
Contracts for "Design of
Artwork" or commissioned Artwork will be provided when
arrangements are made with the artist for an "advance fee" to be
paid for sketches etc.
Go To First category of Images
|
