Pete Brown

My first memories of art were drawing pictures for my Grandmother when I was around four years old.  She encouraged me that I would one day be an artist.  My formal training was a Jon Gnagy “Learn to Draw” kit she bought me in the fourth grade.  That book turned on the light bulb!  I learned about perspective and shading, and my drawings began to look “real”.  I won a first place blue ribbon at the county fair that year for a drawing of a train station, courtesy of Mr. Gnagy’s step by step instruction.
 
For many years I did drawings but didn’t save them.  I was busy with my music, playing in a rock and roll band.  My first oil painting was done for a gift to my father, it was a picture of his forty foot workboat “Sugarbabe”.  This was around 1969.  I did a couple of others as gifts for relatives, and in 1976 I was awestruck by the tall ships in New York for the bicentennial.  I painted tehm from a small photo that ran in Time Magazine.  This was my last painting for over 30 years, it was time to get a real job and earn a living.
 
Travels with my family to Caribbean Islands inspired me to pick up a brush again.  The tropical birds and island scenes felt like serenity to my hectic world.  I’m constantly drawn back to these themes.  My push now is to begin to explore the human experiences of life, real and imagined.  There are many little stories I want to tell through my paintings, I hope you enjoy them!
 
-Pete Brown

*To see more of Pete's work or to watch him create, visit his studio here at the gallery!