CRAIG TRAPP
Greetings All!
As the year moved into summer, I found more landscapes emerging. They are larger and more complex than the “Springscapes” I painted earlier in the year. I never tire of interpreting nature with design and color.
More recently, there are new abstract paintings to enjoy in the “All Green Lights” collection. What is “All Green Lights” you may ask? This is when, after choosing a theme and my color scheme, I paint as if I am driving and encounter all green lights. Continue on! No doubting allowed! This is my way of painting Abstract Expressionism, my purist, and least self-conscious painting.
Check out the “All Green Lights” collection, and let me know what you think.
Thank You-Craig
Featured
Landscapes
{ click on image for full sized}
North County
Abstract Sketches 2304,5,6, triptych. 20x10x1.5 acrylic on paper, on panel, $275.
Sets
Pears # 2329, 30,31
triptych. 20x10x1.5 acrylic on paper, on panel, $275.
Hearts & Pears
Dream Inspired
Spiritual
All Green Lights
Great Outdoors
Collections
Hearts & Pears
Permanent Display, Allan Hancock College, Santa Maria, CA. USA
Thank You for Visiting Craig Trapp Art
A California resident for over 40 years, I am an intuitive acrylic painter of abstract expressionism. Born in 1957 in Allentown Pennsylvania, I was the middle of 3 children.
My youth was primarily spent out of doors. Long days were spent hiking the woods and climbing giant rocks left by ancient glaciers. I collected arrowheads and fossils, identified trees, and loved fishing for native Brookies in the nearby cow pasture stream. During these times I observed. I learned about nature’s cycles and patterns. And I learned about stillness. Most importantly, I learned we that we are part of nature, not separate from it. Little would I know these early years created a sensitivity in me that would someday become essential to my art.
When I was 38, home due to a work injury, I discovered my inner Artist. Initially drawing with black, white, and gray pastels, I learned the relationships between warm and cool, darks and lights, and the significance of shadows. I started painting with acrylics, and soon felt the desire to paint seriously.
My perfectionism first directed me toward realism, but realism soon felt restrictive. I wanted to express, not illustrate. I wanted to enhance our shared experiences through emotion. I wanted others to feel what I felt, and to stimulate their memories, dreams, and emotions when viewing my work. I wanted viewers to feel awe, and the connection to something greater than our understanding,
When I discovered Abstract Expressionism, I knew I had found my home. Pollock, Rauschenberg, Diebenkorn! The passion! These painters painted their guts onto the canvas. Their art felt honest, spiritual, intuitive. At last, this was my kind of painting!
"Don’t think. Thinking is the enemy to creativity. It’s self-conscious, and anything self-conscious is lousy. You can’t “try” to do things. You simply “must” do things. --Ray Bradbury
How It All Started
