Website: https://www.flickr.com/photos/202534428@N03/ (zeros)
Edmonds artist Stu Hitchner began painting “in earnest” at age seventy-five, in the fall of 2023. According to Stu he was looking for a new adventure, and a way to enrich his creative background that includes 25 years of travel and art photography.
He combines his love of art and photography with the digital world exploring and developing concepts for traditional painting. His medium of choice is gouache. He has exhibited at Red Sky Gallery in Lake Forest Park and at Graphite Gallery. Most recently he was named the Edmonds Summer Market poster artist.
Inspiration
According to Stu, Twenty-fire years of art/street photography off the beaten path in Southeast Asia have honed his senses and eye for unique and compelling images. “I am drawn by color, form, lines and the play of light – nature and humanity – between and beyond the obvious. I am particularly inspired by works of art created by the impressionists: Matisse, Gauguin, Cezanne, Van Gogh, Klimt and others. Also, traditional Japanese art.”
As with his photography, Stu is self-taught. He says, “I learn by doing, by taking risks. I am, however, supported, and coached by my fellow artists.”
When he is asked what he wishes to convey through his art, Stu responds that his experience with photography informs his goals. “What can be revealed to a perceptive eye? My images are windows into to my soul. The stirrings of my conscious and subconsciousness: primal emotions, passion, beauty, contradiction, noise, fear, uncertainty, serenity, surrender, hopefulness, fascination and curiosity of a creative life. My painting is an extension of that.”
A relatively new gouache artist, Stu reports that he took to the medium immediately. “Gouache was recommended to me by an artist I admire, and I quickly found acrylic gouache. It’s opaque, has a matte finish and it’s conducive to layering. It’s a forgiving medium,” he states.
Stu is interested in connecting to venues in which to display and sell. As a locker artist at ArtWorks, Stu says that his association with ArtWorks is an absolute joy. “It’s welcoming of newcomers and it’s where local artists convene, learn, grow, and support one another,” he says enthusiastically.
Stu has lived in Edmonds with his wife for 35 plus years. He has two children and five grandchildren. He is a retired KOMO-TV engineer, Vietnam veteran, and former Marine.