Stan Metzger Gallery - Artist Information
Stanley Ross Metzger:
Having been born and raised on the family farm in Jefferson County, Kansas, less than ten miles from the birth place of famous Regionalist artist, John Steuart Curry, I have always had the desire and need to draw. Although I enrolled at the University of Kansas School of Fine Arts, in design, I quickly changed my major to Business Administration, and spent 40 years in the real estate brokerage business.
While approaching my 60th birthday, with only three or four previously finished paintings to my credit, I made a vow to seriously pursue the art of painting. With a strong belief that I had the God given talent to succeed, and with a deep concern that if I did not make that committment at that time, I might have forever missed my calling.
Working in time for painting while running a real estate brokerage business proved difficult, but not impossible. And, the more works that I finished, the more intense was my passion, which finally became so great that I became a "full time" artist in May, 2008. Having never had a lesson in painting, my unique personal style quickly emerged, and with the encouragement, guidence, and tough criticism of my good friend and fellow artist, Jerry Gaddis, my work has evolved almost subconsciously. Decisions that used to be ceribral, are now made without thought, as if comming from some devine power and guiding me through the process.
As a result of being created from memory, my unique and unbefore seen images, which can not be found anywhere else in the real world, are produced with serious technical execution, using the best available materials, and done with the hope that they will always be considered in good taste, while giving the viewer a feeling of peace, calm, and quiet reflection.
Thank you for visiting my online gallery.
Process of Work:
My greatest efforts in painting are directed toward detailed observation of the world around us; shapes, sizes, textures, reflections, transparence, sunlight, shadows, time of day, time of year, type of weather (before and after), and much more. Having committed a lifetime of such observations to memory, I almost exclusively work with these observations, as references, to begin the evolution of each painting from my mind to the canvas, without the need to photograph my subjects.
My personal painting process has evolved over the years, stroke by stroke, giving me the technical skill to paint what my mind sees, utilizing my own sense of composition, with greatest details focused on the primary subject of the painting. Each work starts with a thin wash underpainting, and builds from dark shades to lighter highlights, using at least four to seven layers of paint, thinned with mediums.
The final layers are painted with smaller liner brushes, bringing the final "high definition" to the piece, often using two sets of primary colors; a warm side and a cooler side. The last few coats of paint and washes help capture the final emotion and mood, and complimentary colors help bring the piece to life.
It is not uncommon for me to spend 50 to 70 hours at the easel on each painting.
Materials Used:
Heavy body acrylics and mixing medium, on cotton duck canvas, linen, and gesso board.
