Steve Latimer Contemporary Artist

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!

Good afternoon, Hope your week has gone well. Caught Sun and Fun air show yesterday and totally enjoyed looking at the War birds that had flown in. Great subjects for future painting and shows.
 Yes my new art direction now is wood assemblages. I have progressed from different mediums from landscapes to mixed media to now wood assemblages. I really love piecing wood shapes together and fitting, cutting, shaping wood to make these different pieces. Trianges, rectangles, squares pieced together. I will paint them with acrylic paints and  pastels and spray with a varnish for protection. First stop  will be to enter them in  the Melvin Gallery show in May and then Mchelle Harvey has asked me to do a show in July at her MItchell's Coffee House. 
 All for this week. Enjoy the weekend and have a blessed day. See ya!

Good Afternoon! Hope your week is going well. Thought I would share some info on my latest piece. New direction in art so I am excited about it. 

 I started doing  assemblage art last year and did a piece for the Melvin Gallery show at Florida Southern College and was fortunate to sell it. So I wanted to do another piece this year and a  previous blog you saw that piece "Hidden Secrets". This piece is totally different and is all wood. Going back to my Western roots and always been drawn to canyons and mountains in Utah and Arizona I developed this piece. Rocks pushed together with cracks and slate pieces makes awesome natural art. "Evening Bluffs" was my take on that rocks and canyons in Utah.

 Unfortunately my tools are minimal so after two weeks cutting with a hand saw(s),  electric jig saw and electrical sander  that wanted to die I finally got this piece

placed together. Texture is a combination of liquid acrylic paint and pastel chalk layered on.  It is protected with a Krylon Varnish and is wired to hang. I think it turned out well. This piece and Hidden Secrets will be entered in a Jury show again this year at Melvin Gallery at Florida Southern College in May put on by the Lakeland Art Guild. 

 Hope you like it. Also anyone has any old electric jig saws are small table saw and is tired of them let me know. Have a blessed week and as always see ya!

Good afternoon: Been a little under the weather this past week. Don't think it was the flu but maybe just a severe cold. Either way it still is hanging around like a unwanted guest and I am ready for it to leave. Take a hike!

 " Endless " is a painting  I did  on my take of West Texas when I was living their in the mid 1950's. The horizon always seemed so distant and fence lines and telephone lines seemed to go on into infinity. It was a time of maybe future inspiration in my landscapes. A great folio for my future art.

 "Endless" is a 24x24 Mixed Media on Hardboard Panel. 

Have a blessed week and please don't get sick. Stay healthy and enjoy your day. See ya!

Good morning from this cold Florida. Just a couple more days and then back to shorts and tee shirts I hope. 

"Cave Dweller" is a continued series of paintings I started about 3 years ago. Cliff Dweller was the previous painting and was done when we lived in Raleigh. 

 This painting is 24x24 on a birch panel and is considered a mixed media. The mediums I used were mainly watercolors, fluid acrylics and acrylic paint,  modeling paste red rosin paper. The birch panel was prepped with 3 coats of coarse white grounds which is similar to gesso but will allow watercolor paint to adhere to it. Layers were sealed with a Krylon Crystal Clear seal spray. As I added layers of watercolors and blended them I had  to seal each layer before putting another transparent layer of watercolors. 

  Over all it turned out to be a very nice painting.

As a note the Ridge Art Association in Winter Haven, Florida  is having its annual Juried Members show this month and I have two paintings in the show. Stop by if you have time. 

 Have a great blessed weekend. See Ya!

Good Morning and hope everyone is getting into the Christmas spirit. We are around our house. This piece is the last in my series of black and white Prismacolor pencil pieces so thought I would share with you this morning. 

 The original photograph was taken about 4 years ago when we still lived in Raleigh and I had come down to Lakeland to visit. It was a great fall weekend to go to Lake Mirror to shoot some photographs so this one was taken. I did a watercolor of Lake Mirror also but it was in color so the challenge was on to do a Prismacolor pencil in black and white. I liked this perspective of the lake and the reflections you see around 8 in the morning on Lake Mirror were fantastic.  The piece is 20x24 Matted

on Stonehenge 100% Cotton Textured Paper.  Hopefully it will find a home soon. 

 Oh as a reminder, The Black and White and Read All Over Juried Show will be up at the Ridge Art Association Building in Winter Haven until December 17, 2017. Check hours open if you have a interest in seeing some great art in Black and White. I have 3 pieces in the show. 

 THats it fo rthis week. I will be back next month. Have a  Blessed and Merry Christmas and a Safe New Years. See Ya!