ARTIST: Paul Illian
MEDIUM|DIMENSIONS|DATE: pencil | 0x0 | 2020
BIO/ARTIST STATEMENT:
Paul grew up in Florida and showed early talent as an artist. His work was accepted for national touring shows while he was in middle school. On high school graduation, he served in the Marine Corps for four years, then got a BSE in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Central Florida.
Moving to Seattle, he worked as a Systems Analyst at Boeing, Lead Engineer at Nova Marine Exploration, and Sports Engineer at Seattle University.
Returning to his first love, art, Paul now paints full time.
“I feel that the artist is a tour guide,” he said. “Using color and composition, the artist will draw the viewer into a scene, creating a mood and promoting a desire to further explore the image. After leading a quick tour, the artist then steps away from the viewer and allows them to explore on their own, at their own pace. A painting should elicit more than a passing “Oh that’s nice.” A painting should be like a day trip to a favorite spot that always invites you to stay and explore….”
“I let the media choose my subjects. With painting, I will choose landscapes. With pen and ink, I will do wildlife portraits. For some reason, pencil makes me want to draw the human figure.”
“With my paintings, I am heavily influenced by the Barbizon and Hudson River styles. As individual artists go, I like Rembrandt van Rijn, Claude Monet, Vincent van Gough, Maxfield Parish, Richard Schmid and my hometown hero, Bob Ross.”
Paul lives in north SeaTac, WA.