RAY DUKE

painter, Cynthiana, Kentucky

I've always been able to draw and I don't remember a time when I couldn't manipulate clay into recognizable shapes. I was better with the clay than the pencil, though I didn't spend much time doing either until I neared middle age.I produced some small sculptures late in the previous century. Having no training in casting methods I was dependent on others to manufacture the permanent finished products. That quickly became too expensive to pursue as a hobby.

Still wishing to produce images, in my fifth decade I determined to finally teach myself to paint. I rented a casita in Mexico from a dear friend who had a second-floor studio built on it before she moved to a larger place. After seventeen months, which included a solo show at the Museo de Arte Mazatlan, the money ran out and I relocated stateside with a pick-up load of finished canvases.

I like to eat so I opted to work a variety of jobs, painting mostly on weekends. Near the end of 2019 circumstances allowed me to be in the studio far more often.

My work tends to be figurative, coarse, sculptural and colorful. I've figured out a few things along my path but when faced with a blank surface it feels as if it's for the first time. There is much to learn.