Artwork Story

My main bodies of work are laid out in my life's story.

While each painting objectively should stand on it’s own, my main focus of artworks makes up my life story. There is a continued narrative among each iteration. As a group, they are split into six current sections or “eras”. Most work that has not started is already planned out. I know exactly how I want them to look and how I want them to feel. After all, it is my life and memory.

Follow the story of my life story in these paintings, grouped by their respected eras:

🖌️ - Denotes this painting is currently in progress.

Childhood Era

1990 - 2008

It will be several years before I start painting anything in this era. Filled with nostalgia and childhood topics. As well as some other darker topics of childhood.

Shower Time - The scene of my first loss.
Too Loud - A small boy being pummeled violently for being too loud, while playing outside with other children.
Black Sheep - The effects of an abuser can have making a child feel isolated and unloved from the world.
Scar - The story how I received my most haunting scar.
Appalachian Forrest - My safe place as a child.
Serenity - A small boy sits on top of a snowy hill, discovering a peace later used in meditation.

The Dark Era

2008 - 2011

A segment of time I have always referred to as the dark part of my life. It was a bleak moment of life, while I was still young in adulthood. Dealing with situations forced on me and my lifetime plans drastically changed several times, with me having to adapt for survival. The era expands on topics of betrayal and anger.

This era focuses on the short amount of time of becoming a young parent, becoming engaged, and facing the loss of both of those topics. It was not a happy time for me.

No current works in this era that are planned have been painted. Future titles of this era will include:

Unexpected
🖌️ Unfaithful - Painting 2 of 3 of The Dark Trio,
Electrifying

The Hart’s Desire Era

2011 - 2013

This era starts with meeting my second fiancee. Following the relationship as it builds, as we both grow together. Herself dragging me out of my “Dark Era” with loving support and to guiding me to become the man I am now, living life the best I can make of it. The era expands of topics of love, loss, and the beginnings of trauma.

No current works in this era are completed yet. I’m still preparing myself for it. This era is both the most amazing point of my life and the most devastating to me. Future titles of this era will include:

Show Me What I’m Looking For - Painting 3 of 3 of The Dark Trio.
Shared Words - A couple sits together in front of a Monet.
Hot Spring - A romantic scene.
Adopting Izzy - The day my family grew one more.
By My Side - Walking with Izzy through the hills again.
Expecting - “We’re going to need more bedrooms, after all.”
Carol of the Bells - Holiday excitement of buying something special.
Ring (December 20th, 2013) - “Ben, get here as soon as possible.”
Goodbye (December 20th, 2013) - One final embrace.
Broken (December 21st, 2013. 2:00AM) - The first time Izzy laid her head on my lap.

Purgatory Era

2014 - 2018

After the night of my life’s largest loss, this era begins. This era is mainly uneventful, myself living in emotional purgatory and suppression. Six years of living through the effects of devastating trauma. The era expands on topics of living life on autopilot, and being passive to the atrocities occurring around one’s self.

No current works in this era have been completed yet. Future titles of this era will include:

Straight to Voicemail - Sometimes it’s comforting hearing their voice again.
Violence - A friend, grieving the loss of his sister and having a drug induced schzoprantic episode, stabs me in my right shoulder.
Decembers - I hate Decembers.
Office Christmas Party - Me holding a keg as my friend does a keg stand in jean cut-off short-shorts.
Shepard - Izzy returns, herding sheep.
Enablement - Friends supporting bad habits.
Lapels and Pens - My bespoke suits and gold-nibbed Mont Blanc.
Summer Shandy - A strange guest shows up at my door with a six pack of Summer Shandy Ale.

Second Hartbeat Era

2018 - 2020

This era follows the events that took place that lead me to seek healing my traumas. It follows my journey to finally start to break free of traumatic emotional suppression, and coming back to who I was once again. The era expands on topics of vulnerability, love, betrayal, deceit, and overwhelming confrontation to previously suppressed emotions.

More context in this era will be expanded on when The Hart’s Desire era paintings are completed. Future titles of this era will include:

People Watching - A past-time. Sometimes with good company.
You Took Care of Me - Chariot with leather seats awaits.
Red Purse - My 29th birthday dinner with friends.
Last Call (December 21st, 2019) - A final round of drinks with friends.
The Dam Cracks (December 24th, 2019) - A surrealism explosion of emotions.
In To The Woods (February 26th, 2020) - A man walking in to the woods at sunset.
Boujee - A man in a suit confronts a pool boy.
The Trek Begins - From 262lbs, down to 158lbs…

Escaping Era

2020 - 2023

This era follows me trying to escape the painful memories of my home and seek out peace. Running into difficulties that would lead me back to art while being stuck in a near frozen and frozen hellhole. The era expands over a lot of topics of wanderlust, regret, and shifting through the consequences of loss.

More context in this era will be expanded on when The Hart’s Desire era paintings are completed. Future titles of this era will include:

Audrey - Thinking back what could have been my daughter.
Veganism - I’m not a fan of delusional behavior.
Busy - A woman sits at a table, passed out from drugs.
Little Reminders - Sometimes something as simple as forgotten hair pin can be a reminder.
Little Pink Bow - A little gift box or a smoking gun?
Fear or Spite - A woman screams in fear, pointing to a clown at the circus.
🖌️ Circus Act - A clown stands trial for charges of being a menace to society.
🖌️ Clown in a Two Piece - A prosector in clown makeup gives a closing statement.
Unfunny Joke - A judge wearing a red clown nose, makes a bias and spiteful decision.
Imprisoned - A depressed clown sits in jail.
🖌️ Marcus - Run, my son.

Recovery Era

2024 - present

This era follows dealing with the fallout of the previous events and is when I would begin painting as a necessity. Seeking only a life of being content and peace. The era expands on a lot of topics of peacefulness, being content, and appreciating the little moments.

Future titles of this era will include:

Rehabilitated - A clown sits on the sidewalk, unable to return to the circus.
Honeydew Trash - A dog eats a cantaloupe from the garbage in an ally.
Dove - A man drags on a cigarette, staring at a pigeon under a street light.
🖌️ Young Man In A Room - Self Portrait
Witnessing Escape - An aging man sits at the window, staring out into the snowy landscape.
Drifting - A self portrait of me laying in a field of grass.
🖌️ Pike Cabin - A landscape.
John Wayne - An old man sits in a walker with his cowboy hat on, looking out in to the sunset.
🖌️ Silver Ballet - An old woman dancing ballet.
Leather Shoes - Sometimes you step in dog shit with your nice pair of dress shoes, and you just have to fling it off.
Antoinette - A crack at the state of current modern art.