Steve Latimer Contemporary Artist

Good Morning and are you staying warm? Great cool weather today in Lakeland. 52 Degrees last time I checked.

 Ok lets talk about Farming US301. Basis for this painting was the farm country in 

South Carolina and North Carolina. You see all these vast farms as you drive with expansive pastures, growing crops, turned over land yet to be planted. Each

individual farm a microcosum of its self. Yes over the years I have done alot of landscapes but I wanted the shape and forms squares and angles to include in this painting. The painting is gallery wrapped 30x48x1.5 Acrylic on canvas. 

 Also again reminding everyone that the Ridge Art Association current juried show 

is "Black and White With a Pop of Red." Reception for this show in Winter Haven on December 1, 2018 between 6-8 PM. I have a piece in the show but also there are many award winning artists showing their art so stop by. The Show will run up to the 17th of December. Have a blessed week and see ya. 

Good Morning: Thught I would get a blog out on my latest piece I have finished now. Chief Big Head, Standing Rock Territory.  I have alwys been facinated by the 

photographs of Native Americans taken during the 1800's. Many of these were melainotype or ferrotype phtographs sometimes referred to as tintype  The metal coated with a lacquer or enamel was used as support for the photographic emulsion. 

Needless to say they created great black and white photogrpahs with shadows and subject matter that draws my eye to each one.

Back to BIg Head (Pohatanka which means Big Brain)) was a Ogala Sioux Indian Chief who fought  against a removal by the US Government in the Black Hills. He was a part of the Cheyenne indian force who suprised attacked Geneal Armstrong Custer  with Sitting Bull at Little Big Horn in 1876. Unfortunately he and his people were forced on a reservation in the years to come by the US Government. Eventually he would die of grief in 1889.  

 I tried to put two items in this piece. Bear Butte near Sturgis South Dakota. This is an important religious site for the Plains Indian. Also Tantanka or Buffalo. For the Plains Indians they meant life.They feed and clothed them. They found a reverence and peace with Tatanka. Unfortunately they to would be taken from them by the spread of people to the Western US in years of the 1800's.

 This piece is done in Charcoal and Conte. I worked alot in Charcoal and Pastel in College so wanted to give it a shot again. I plan on entering this in the Ridge Art Association Juried show  Black and White with a Pop of Red. I hope it will be shown because of the Story of Chief Big Head and also the Native American Tribes who were the First Americans. 

Have a blessed weekend and See Ya!

Good morning: Hope your week is going well.  Brief note on these miniature paintings for show in Bartow coming up. First off it was really a challenge to do them since I had never done a miniature painting before like the 3x3, Lake Holingsworth Painting.  I had done the subject in a 8x8 so I knew how to lay it out. Biggest challenge was finding brushes to do it but Amazon had some. Just tedious work which I don't enjoy much but it actually went quickly when I started it. My other miniature  painting , Morning Sunrise is a 5x5 so it was a bit easier. Frame had to be hand made but that was simple. These paintings will be entered in a Lakeland Art Guild Juried show this month. 

 Speaking of shows the Ridge Art Association Currently has a Juried Members Show hanging in their gallery in WInter Haven Florida. I received a 3rd place ribbon in that show. Stop by if you can before October 14, 2018 if you want to seek some great local art. 

 All for now. Have a blessed week. See Ya!

Assembled Photo 1

Unassembled Photo 2

Sketch for assemblage. Photo 3

Good afternoon: Been awhile since I have blogged but thought I would get one out. During art shows I have gotten alot of questions about, what are wood assemblages? 

Easiest answer  they are wood pieces assembled together to form one completed object or a wood assemblage. 

 My process starts with a sketch which is a basic idea. Generally the sketch and finished project can change dramatically but the sketch is the basic idea . The current assemblage is " View FInder". Idea for this piece was a old view finder I had when I was about 10 years old. Back then  the view finder might have photos of the Grand Canyon, Yellowstone National Park or  New York City. Clicking away you could travel to all these neat places. Anyway my view finder has Iconic People, A TV Character, And Pop Art.

 Photo 2 has all the parts unassembled  except for a few that will make up my view finder. I really love doing Assemblages  because you are putting the pieces together an making something that you sketched  and  cut, sawed painted and glued together and always changing something till it is finished.

 "Twists and Turns" wood assemblage is that has been  sold, Next week "View FInder " will be  assembled and made ready for a show. Now you know what Wood Assemblges are about. Check out my other pieces on my web site. See Ya!

Good afternoon. New piece to share this Friday. 

"In The Morning" Is a Mixed Media 24x36 Framed. I had started on thsi painting about two years ago but it kind of hung aroung in a closet so I decided to finish it. Basis for it was a guitar player on Ft Myers Beach early one morning drinking my coffee and looking for shells. I saw him playing and asked if I could take his picture. Also I had some old Dan Fogelberg sheet music and with lyrics for the song "In The Morning"  so I incorporated the lyrics, the music and the picture of the guitar player . Worked well I thought. Miss Dan's music he was a good singer and writer. 

Currently have art at Winter Haven Airport and Art Central in Bartow. Stop by and check them out, also doing show at Mtchell"s Coffee House in Lakeland and will get the invite out on Facebook and Instagram Next Week. Have a blessed weekend and see ya!

Good Afternoon: We have made it to June and no rain today. Wow for that after over 17 inches in the month of May. Anyway lets get to my latest Piece. 

"Pilot- Strategic Air Command - Pease AFB 1962." is a Prismacolor Pencil 16x20 Matted. Little history on this piece. My father served in the Air Force as a pilot for over 22 years. His last assignment was  in Portsmouth, NH. at Pease Air Force Base with the 100th  Bomb Wing and the Strategic Air Command.. During the year 1962 the Cuban Missle Crisis was taking place and the squadron at Pease AFB was made up of the B-47 Stratojets. Due to the tension going on with Russia and the United States the pilots were put on alert and had to be ready to be in the air immediately to stop at all costs any chance for a nuclear war. 

I think the piece shows the resolve our military had during that tense period of 1962 

and thanks to my dad and all millitary personel who have served and are serving to protect our nation. 

 Hopefully this piece will be juried in to the Aviation show at WInter Haven Airport coming up in June. 

Have a blessed weekend and enjoy it. See ya!

Good afternoon: Always this time is the best in Florida. Low humidity,

cool mornings and days in the 80's. Anyway after May it all goes away and back to it being just hot.

"Flight Line" came into my mind after going to the Sun and Fun Air Show this year in Lakeland. They had a War Bird section with planes from the 30' up to the 90's. This plane caught my eye right off with its huge red nose and prop. Research told me it was a T-6 Texan that was used as trainer for pilots during WWII and into the 60's. I am sure my father trained in one at some point. He was a career pilot in the Air Force from 1943 until 1964. I never have painted planes in all my years of being a artist so it really was a easy one to paint. I am entering it in a aviation show at the Winter Haven Airport in June of this year so hopefully it will be accepted. Any way it is 20x24 Acrylic on Canvas and unframed right now. 

 A reminder the Melvin Gallery at Florida Southern College is doing its annual Lakeland Art Guild show in May. Reception is May11, 2018 from 6-8 PM. Stop by and check out some art and you might see some of mine there. Have a blessed week and see ya!

Good morning: Great day here in Florida with high today around 80 and 

no rain in sight. Love the spring weather.

"Twist and Turns" is another wood assemblage I just completed. This piece reminded of some of the famousr artists of the last 50 years. Rubin Delaunay, John Hoyland, Larry Bell. Their painitngs and 3 diminsional art inspire many abstract artists today. 

This piece is 12x12x1.5 inches and is a total wood assemblage. I used acrylics  and it is protected with Krylon Masters Clear Varnish. It is wired and ready to hang. 

All of the wood assemblages I have completed the last two months will be entered into a show at the Melvin Art Gallery at Florida Southern College 

in Lakeland Florida in May. I hope they get in and can be shared with many. Have a great week and see ya!