Artwork by Jay Karas
My name is Jay, I come from a small village in Poland. I was born and raised there and moved to states when I was 15. The only thing I knew was school and farm work for the first 15 years of my life. Not very exciting but at the same time I learned a lot about life and hard work at very young age.
I always loved to doddle, never thought of myself as an artist and I still don’t. Like they say: “We are our own worst critics”. I picked up a paint brush for the first time when I was about 30 and only been painting for 8 years. I went on a cruise with my wife and there they had this giant six-foot paining by Peter Max. The entire week I could not stop looking at it. As you can imagine the price tag of that painting was way out of my league. The influence that painting had on me made me get a set of brushes some acrylic paints and try to replicate the painting as best as I could to have it as a reminder. As you can imagine my version was not even close to what the original looked like. Something good came out of it as I realized that my first piece of art was beyond of what I thought I can do. The rest as they say is history.
What king of artist do I want to be? Finding my own style. When I look at Old Masters most of the time I can identify the artist just by looking at his work. Obviously not all of them as there are so many in last 500 years; but your top 15-20 I would almost get it every time. You know a Picasso when you see one.
I want to be able to keep learning and developing as an artist. Grow my knowledge, understanding of colors and compositions. Create pieces that people can stop, look at and be left with the same impression the Peter Max painting left on me. The piece I’m submitting took me 10-11 months to complete. Many hours and layers of glaze. I do not criticize any art or artists; I just feel master pieces take time. Anyone can throw paint on canvas and call it art. If I only paint 10 in my lifetime, I’ll know I gave it 150% into everyone one of them.
Back in a day you can become a painter apprentice and learn everything they know. Pass down knowledge to another generation of artists. Now days you do not see that. When I knew what kind of artist I want to be and what kind of art I want to create it took me a long time to learn how its done. When I found Web Art Academy and watched some of the tutorials I immediately signed up. This helped me great amount.
I don’t think I will win. The pool of competition is great and there are some amazing artists here. Looking at past competitions I know it will not be easy. It would be an amazing reassurance to know that what I’m creating has an impression on people to vote for me.
Not many people know I paint. Most of my work is hanging home on my walls. I don’t post it on Facebook other social medias I don’t really share with people. I guess I’m just to scared of people laughing at it or something silly like that. This is the first time I’m showing it to someone outside of my four walls. I just want to share my story with fellow artists and show it to others for the first time.
Thank you and good luck to everyone.
Jay
Lyn Imperato says
Magnificent !