Artist Statement
I Paint Carnival. Whether clothed or nude I enjoy painting the human form. As a youth I was fascinated with the human form and how it works. I excelled in the board game “Operation”. One may laugh at this but the notion of this is that a steady hand is important to win. A steady hand is essential for painting in my style. This is probably where the quest for me to paint realism stems from. Painting in oils came from my love of fantasy artists such as Boris Vallejo and Frank Frazetta. I love Luis Royo with his soft airbrushing and of the pin-up genre.
My twist is I paint Caribbean women in carnival costumes. Please note that Carnival originated in Trinidad and Tobago, W.I. and not Brazil. Carnival is a cultural phenomenon now celebrated year round. Painting women from carnival gives me the best of both fantasy and real world representations. The challenge is painting the flesh of differing hues. Painting curvaceous women contrasting softness and hard edges and of various shapes challenges me as well as with the textures in the costumes I paint. This gives me a challenge as well.
I try to capture pure rawness from each subject in my paintings as the freedom of sensuality, joy of no constraints and pleasure to express is displayed. This fascination keeps me honest because I walk a tight rope with paying attention to details while being patient. - Weldon Ryan
This is a short video of Weldon Ryan describing the paintings he has in this exhibit of "Men Painting Women".
