Artist Don White is an artist originally from central Ohio, now living in Florida. As a second-generation artist, Don has always had a passion for drawing and painting. His father was a commercial artist who took his talents to World War II where he drew maps for the United States Army. It is from these roots that Don grew into the artist that he is today.
With his father passing when Don was very young and taking only minimal instruction in art, he taught himself art using his father’s art school books. Upon completing college, Don used his talent and skills to become an Electrical Engineer. Throughout his professional career, he has had numerous technical drawings to his credit. It has only been in the past ten years that Don has begun seriously investing more time pursuing his love of oil painting.
His portfolio contains a wide variety of realism subjects including scenic beach landscapes, couples on the beach, famous sports figures, ballerinas, couples dancing, a retro girls series, and numerous others. He also has done a surreal painting of butterfly girls, grumpy old Italian chef, legendary characters, and others.
Don likes to believe each of his paintings tells a story, one the viewer can recreate. Over the years he has learned to develop his own unique style of figure painting with light and dark contrasting shadows. He is highly influenced by the work of Caravaggio and others of the Baroque period. Don plans to further his art career by painting figurative works of art that express his unique style.
When did you begin painting and how did you get started?
White: At an early age I started to draw and sketch, but it was not until 8th grade that I opened my Dad’s box of oil paints and started to paint. In those days I had no idea what to paint so I used pictures on calendars as the inspiration for my early paintings.
How does your creativity manifest?
White: An example would be when I saw a photograph of Son’s future wife in a ballet pose with a male partner in “tights”. The vision was too good to be true; I can exchange her partner with my son knowing he would not be caught dead in tights. I had a copy of the photograph sent to me so I could use the photo to capture my now daughter-in-law and substitute my son as her ballet partner. Now fast forward three months to the rehearsal dinner I am the emcee. I have painted a painting of the ballet pose with my daughter-in-law and now my son wearing his tights. At first I have it covered and reveal it to the crowd after a long introduction.
What is your process from start to final work, do you envision it from the beginning or is it a different process?
White: Usually I get a visual thought of what I want to paint, and then I search for magazines and internet sites for photos of the subject matter I envisioned. Being a perfectionist, it must be images that I can modify to fit my preferences. For the most part I know what I want the final painting to look like before I start but allow myself the freedom to add a unique touch went it feels right. Once the vision is set, I grid the canvas and complete a full sketch of the painting. Normally it takes a while for me to finish the sketch, if the sketch is right then the painting that follows will also be good. Next, I cover the whole canvas with a base layer, some of the areas I use a thin translucent glaze still leaving sketch details to show through. I will come back later with further glazes to show the details in the proper perspectives.
Then it is a layer on layer of paint over the base layer to get the desired effect, sometimes I tell myself I have painted this painting several times. Over time I have learned a patience that it takes time for glazes to dry before going forward again, it is my experience that a good oil painting takes time to finish. Finally, last-minute light and dark highlights go on.
Your art is more reminiscent of the Old Masters such as “Michelangelo Caravaggio” than many contemporary artists, how does your art connect with today’s art trends?
White: I am inspired by Caravaggio and the Baroque Period. This past October my wife and I traveled to Rome to see Caravaggio’s paintings in churches, museums, and the Borghese Villa. After Rome we traveled to Florence to see David and explore more of Caravaggio’s paintings at The Uffizi Gallery. The use of Chiaroscuro is what intrigues me about him and a style that I am drawn towards because most of my work is dark. Dark in applying paint but not subject matter. I am an artist who deals mostly in the realism, with a touch of surrealism or vintage genre thrown in the mix. In today’s art world, Realism is making a comeback, slow, and incomplete as it may be
. Someone once said that I paint like a European, an assessment that I will gladly accept. At this later stage of my life, realizing that I am more of a throwback than a contemporary leader, this is the course that I must follow. My hope is that people will take pleaser in viewing my work even if it does not fit perfectly into today’s society.
Describe a real-life situation that inspired your artwork if there is one?
White: My lifelong profession was Electrical/Electronic/Controls Engineer in which I developed thousands of technical drawings. When on a business trip I had dinner at an old-fashioned pizza restaurant with a round oven and a pizza chef with unbilled cap. As I sat there watching the chef work an idea came to me to paint a ruff character with a cigar in his mouth working his pizza oven. That painting became my first
important painting as I won first place at The Kuhn Gallery on Marion Campus of The Ohio State University Art Show.
What is the most important lesson you’ve learned from your father who was an artist himself?
White: After the end of WWII in the Pacific, my father was not married and was an artist drawing maps for the headquarters company. Because of this He stayed over in Japan for two years visiting the nuclear sites along with other duties. After returning home and getting married he came down with leukemia and passed away when I was two and a half years old. Even though I did not know him I received his love for art and all his art schoolbooks, along with art supplies and oil paints. I often refer to those books to this day and still use his large oil painting case to house my tubes of paint. My dad work as an illustrator for an advertising company and did extensive work for a company that I later worked for seventeen years. Just a personal note, several men that knew I did not have a father now, tried to be my stand-in dad but all those efforts did not work out.
How has your art evolved over the years?
White: In junior high I painted mainly landscapes off old calendars, after marriage and kids I painted scenes from vacations that we took, next my interest turned to military aircraft from WWII to modern-day fighters and bombers. When our boys got older my wife and I made numerous vacation trips to the island of Aruba, in which I have completed thirteen paintings. The most dramatic are of the Natural Bridge and Nation Tree. It is during this time that I started to get serious about art and my painting style emerged with the pizza chef. Then painting genres ranged from romance to sports legends, to ballroom dance, and to Jazz band scenes. Most of these paintings showed the light and shadows the exception being a few sports figures. Since I have retired to Florida, I am in the process of completing
paintings of Dolphins, Seahorse, Sea Turtle, Manatees, and Humpback Whales.
What is the best way to reach people that are interested in your art?
White: I am finding out marketing yourself is the best way for success. It is good to enter shows in local and regional art competitions. It feels good to have support from your local community, but you must go beyond. I jumped at the change to do this interview as I realize that you must get the word out about you as an artist. My website fineartdonwhite.com was the first step to become a creditable player and along with my Instagram presence I am now in the process of defining my audience and learning how to direct them to my website along with other online art sites that sell my art. I have started to go directly to contacting companies, galleries, and museums; unfortunately, it takes time away from your creative work.
Are there any upcoming shows or workshops we should know about?
White: With the country shut down due to the virus all the local regional shows that I would have participated in have canceled. I have turned to online and will increase my exposure online.
What are your plans for the future? Learn to turn my art into a business.
White: I will be searching for ways to sell myself as an artist and present my art to a targeted audience. Will continue to enter national and online shows and competitions. On the creative side, I plan to continue to develop my Chiaroscuro style and continue increasing my time being creative.