In the course of a lifetime career as a fine artist I have studied and worked with a wide range of media and materials. I have taught children and adults the basics of drawing, painting, sculpture and art history. Currently I am the Creative Director of the New Harmony Artists Guild in New Harmony, Indiana, where I am able to teach art and music and pursue my goals as an artist/performer.
The 2009 series of paintings that I am now developing will consist of a total of fifteen 30" x 30" pieces. They are 1/8" aluminum panels, fabricated with 25" x 25" 3/4" angle braces that are glued to the back of the substrata and function as an installation device causing the works to appear to be floating on the wall.
They are primed front and back with automotive epoxy paint, sprayed on the surfaces. At this point, I develop the image using acrylic paint in a process of airbrush and delicate brush work. The panels are sealed with an automotive epoxy clear coat, hand polished to create a lush, glossy, airtight, surface sealed with ultra violet protection according to the highest standards of the automotive paint industry.
The history of my fascination with the airbrush harkens back to the middle 1970's when I found a new way to support my fine art ambitions, painting murals on vans, cars, trucks and motorcycles. Gaining command of the technological challenges, I realized that the airbrush was the perfect instrument to produce the contemporary "scapes" I was envisioning as a fine artist. In my earliest attempts, in the 1980's, I used gessoed masonite panels as the substrata for my designs. I worked with acrylic paint much as I do now. The major concern for me in those days was the finishing process. At that time, automotive paints were not as compatible as they are today. Technological advances in the paint industry enable me to produce a work of art unsurpassed in its stability, permanence, and appearance.
With regard to my love of the imagery, I have always been drawn to the ever changing aspects of the sky, land and water, as they are illuminated before our eyes. These elementals in their intricate simplicity, often punctuated by manmade objects that solidify the moment in our consciousness, represent a distinct aesthetic balance that demands my attention.
Clement Biddle Penrose