DON TAYLOR - Plein Air Journaling in Watercolor and Pen & Ink

82 pages | English

A brief history of how I evolved into a full time professional artist is in order. It might even encourage others that were in my situation to do the same. My father graduated from art school after high school, but instead of fine art, he took up metal crafting. From early elementary school until I graduated from high school, I worked in his shop. During that time, he always encouraged me with my artistic endeavors.

While at the University of Florida there was no time for art and I graduated in 1964. I was commissioned in the USMC and reported for 3 years of active duty. My last year was a tour of duty in Chu Lai, Viet Nam. After discharge as a Captain, I acquired a MS degree at UF and then was accepted in the Auburn School of Veterinary Medicine.

In 1972, I entered veterinary practice in Panama City, FL and still live in that area. After about 25 years of full time practice, I started part time in order to pursue my passion for watercolors. Prior to 1972, I worked in oils and acrylics, but then started taking watercolor classes in 1974. Around 2006, I began teaching classes locally and workshops regionally. In 2003, I started my travel journaling in watercolor/pen & ink and hope to continue that as long as possible.

I completely retired from veterinary practice in 2018 after Hurricane Michael ravaged our area. Over the years, I became a signature/elected member of 18 major watercolor societies.

Steffi Rodigas.
Art-Passion-Emotions

112 pages | English-German

The catalogue containing my own photographs of landscapes, animals and people is nearly inexhaustible and yet I am constantly on the hunt for the extraordinary. The research for my series “Children of the world” led me to the world-famous photographer Steve McCurry. I got his permission to reimagine his incredible, meaningful pictures in artistic form and I am highly proud of it! Art gives me the opportunity and the freedom to work through and process issues as well as expressing my thoughts and opinions. The result was a collection of many critical works on a whole variety of topics and conflicts of our world. In 2018 I tried to summarise the catastrophic, often ignored and overlooked consequences of climate change in the piece “Climate apocalypse”. Equally, I wanted to denounce the careless handling of our bodies of water in the three-dimensional depiction “If the oceans die, we die too”. I explored this matter further with the paintings “Too late”, “Safe travels” and “Enjoy your meal”. Topics like the overflow of media, the extortion of the Amazon region, chick shredding or world politics filled my canvases in a similar manner. From my urge to try different techniques and styles or even to abstract, the most diverse pictures have emerged. I developed a new kind of art for myself accordingly, which I call “Art in Art”. The origin for this is based on my own philosophy “Don’t waste anything”. Carefully foraged leaves with blended paint scraps found their place in the form of squares, later circles, birds or feet. Art in Art is one whole result, made up of individual small artworks. The viewer is treated to a vast number of tiny parts, each with its own colourful meaningfulness that can inspire imagination. Simultaneously, the big picture sets no boundaries to the joy of exploration.