Thomas Clements
People are multi faceted beings so why should our art reflect anything less?
I was born in Walla Walla, Washington on August 16th 1953 and spent all my years there until I was 18. At This time, travel came into the picture with a two and a half month trip to Europe. This was the galvanizing experience that awakened the desire to paint as a lifetime endeavor. This Trip was a homecoming and introduction to the world of culture. The cultural history and beauty of Europe sparked my creative imagination and began the serious pursuit of painting.

Training as a serious artist began at 20 years old. After working at a factory job for a while , a decision to get serious and see what I was capable of as an artist arrived . These first works, were drawings in pastel taken from photographs of interest. These early works turned out to be easy compared to the later works that would require much more imagination. Coming to realize that the truly valuable aspects of Art could only be found deep below the surface, this began the search to paint from the source rather than just from images.

The only formal training I acquired turned out to be quite inadequate. Realizing after a college course on painting that it might be impossible to find instruction of the kind needed, the search for instruction changed. To learn from the best by studying the great artists throughout history by way of art books, was the new form of instruction. This posed a dilemma because it was hard to decipher how the paint was actually applied. This left the challenge of creating technique according to an inner vision. The study of the great artists was not so much of their technique as it was of their perspective from which they painted. This was a difficult road to travel and still is today although my work is now guided mostly by an inner compass.

The work varies greatly because I am most interested in experiencing something new and learning as much about art as possible. Many areas of interest are the inspiration for the paintings. I may repeat themes or a way of painting, but only for a season until led towards a new direction. This is what art is to me, a world of diversity and richness. People are multi faceted beings so why should our art reflect anything less than the complexity that is inherent in each individual.

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