Blog
Posted on 7/22/2024 1:46:30 PM
By Thomas Stotts
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Feet in the sand
We were staying on Long Beach Island NJ at a beach hotel in the town of Ship Bottom. After the show, I was there to attend, we had a day to relax. I stayed on the Beach all that day and brought home those memories. This piece, a 36x36 acrylic on canvas, was one of the paintings that I did from the memories of that trip. Such a beautiful day watching the surf roll in and out and walking in the sand.
Posted on 7/20/2024 3:11:28 PM
By Thomas Stotts
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An interesting Idea.
"The Race" is a 24x36 acrylic on canvas. This piece was inspired by trips to the Wichita Mountain Wildlife Refuge, near Lawton, OK. This large area has thousands of Bison and Longhorn Cattle as well. I thought about what a race between a horse and Bison might result in. This painting was the result. I guess which would win would depend on the animals, however Bison have been known to outrun a horse now and then. It makes a nice painting anyway. This piece was just accepted into the Goddard Art Museum Annual Juried Exhibition for 2024. So, there you go.
Posted on 11/1/2023 1:40:43 PM
By Thomas Stotts
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Capturing the essence.
This abstract piece has the movement of a Stingray gliding through water. This was my thought as I got more deeply into this piece. I swam with stingrays at Grand Cayman Island several years ago and this caught the feel of those creatures I thought. When I do an abstract, I never know what I will come up with. I enjoy them, as they are a mystery I try to solve.
Posted on 11/12/2021 10:31:48 AM
By Thomas Stotts
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Royalty among us!
I love Colorado and Northern New Mexico. The cooler and dryer air is always an incredible treat when coming from the Summer heat and humidity of my native Oklahoma, (although in the Fall, Oklahoma has some beautiful weather as well), anyway, back to Colorado. During a trip to Crested Butte, CO, for the Crested Butte Arts Festival some years ago, I was able to stay at a friends house there, and was able to take hikes and see beautiful sights. Walking through the Aspens I begin to use my artist's imagination and see through my mind's eye, a big bull Elk standing among the trees. That was the inspiration for this piece and I plan to do more like this one. One thing I love about this gift of art I have been given, is the ability to create any reality I want to. I teach this as well and remind my students of the therapeutic value of having an outlet where you are totally "boss of the moss", you rule your world and landscape for those hours you are painting!
I teach at Norman Firehouse Art Center and Edmond Fine Art Institute. I show work in Dallas at Milan Gallery located in the Forestwood Antique Mall, and in Wildfire Gallery on Paseo Street in Oklahoma City, my home. I also show at Weems Gallery, Albuquerque, NM, and Statton Gallery in Eureka Springs Arkansas.
Follow me in my world as I continue my artist "walkabout".
Posted on 3/13/2020 2:56:10 PM
By Thomas Stotts
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Calming
I hope this has a calming, confident feeling coming through for you. That's what it does for me. Something much bigger than me is in control. Helps me let go of trying to carry every burden on my own shoulders, which I can't do.
Posted on 5/29/2017 2:21:41 PM
By Thomas Stotts
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A beautiful place to walk.
Walking the streets of Santa Fe is a little foretaste of heaven. Not too many places like it in my opinion. Hope you get to experience it too. Maybe this piece will be almost as good as being there.
Posted on 9/7/2016 12:16:18 PM
By Thomas Stotts
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Inspired
This is a very large piece, 48x72 inches. These sunsets have always inspired me as an artist. Probably they inspired me to want to be an artist when I was a lad. This piece was planted in my heart just after the passing of my beloved dad. After some picking up of his personal things at the home that he spent his last days on earth at, I was walking down the hallway to the back door exit. I was sensing dad's spirit and God's spirit talking to me and wanting to help me in my grief. I just thought, well, I just want to continue to be inspired as an artist and be able to continue to pursue my art. As I walked out the exit I was hit by one of these spectacular sunsets. I had my answer. Do this! Do not stop! And do as many beautiful sunsets as you can paint. It was a talking sky and it was my dad's "Homecoming".
Posted on 1/31/2014 6:30:13 PM
By Thomas Stotts
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My favorite view in the world, a colorful sunset, and my favorite subject to paint. God created the heavens and the earth, and it is my priviledge to paint these wonderful sites. Maybe someday I'll get it just right.
Posted on 9/27/2013 8:51:18 PM
By Thomas Stotts
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October in the mountains the Aspens are beautiful in their color changes. I'll never forget the first time I saw them at this time of year. Wonderful memories.
Posted on 1/10/2013 1:14:16 PM
By Thomas Stotts
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Follow Your Horizon
Follow your horizon, even if there are formidable obstacles in your path. Nothing worth having is going to be easy. There will be risks involved. Sometimes, I think, we just have to prove how much we want something, and work hard to get it and not give up and take the risk.
An Eagles song says: "we may lose and we may win, but we will never be here again". So I say, now is the time.
This piece has a lot of symbolism in it for myself and I meant it for others as well. The title, "Follow Your Horizon", refers to a pursuit of the journey God has laid out before each of us individually. It's a long and sometimes threatening travel. In this piece we see a distant horizon, a long way off, and between the finish and the beginning are obstacles we must traverse, a formidable bull, a body of water, and great distance. But it is worth the effort to "Follow Your Horizon" to the finish line.
