Artist’s Corner: Q & A with Bill Tuttle

Q: How did you get started painting?
A: I always wanted to become a studio major. I started because I wanted to make paintings that had that “wow” factor.

Q: How would you describe your painting style?
A: A little bit of realism with surrealism. Some new spiritual with a fantasy kind of style. I’m trying to do something real and fresh — a little romanticism too, for sure.

Q: What are some different types of painting?
A: Abstract and objective (landscapes), realism, portraiture, graffiti.

Q: What painter(s) do you look up to?
A: Michaelangelo definitely. I really like Dahli.I like Goya, and even though he’s not a painter, Kuksi. He’s more of a sculptor, but his paintings rock.

Q: Why do you look up to those specific ones?
A: They’re the masters. They made people think, and still do. I want to do the same thing — inspire people and promote deep levels of thought.

Q: What is your ultimate goal as a painter?
A: I want to just keep painting and keep getting better. I want to be known as a master one day. I want to inspire people.

Q: Are you skilled in any other areas of art?
A: Yeah, I really dig printmaking. I wouldn’t say I’m skilled, but it’s cool.

Q: What are the major differences between painting and drawing, besides the obvious?
A: A lot of what you do in drawing you can incorporate into painting as far as blending techniques and shading. Line making is very similar from drawing to painting, so that helps.  They’re almost one in the same. Painting is using a lot more color for expression.  Brush strokes are so unique compared to charcoal or pencil marks.

Q: If you were to judge another painter’s work, what would you look for as the most important aspect?
A: I look for something really bold and new. Something that hasn’t been done before, but also something that has a really deep statement.  Something that makes you go home and think, “Wow, something needs to be changed in the world.” I think the statement and how it’s designed is the most important part.

Q: How do you feel you incorporate that in your work?
A: I just try to think of a subject.  My ideas are all strictly imagination. I don’t want to come out with something that’s an opinion, even though if you’re not pissing someone off as an artist, you’re not doing your job.  I want people to look at my painting and be enveloped and really picture themselves there.

Q: If you could compare painting to another subject, what would it be?
A: Music.

Q: Why?
A: They both take a lot of practice, obviously. If you want to be a top violinist, you’re going to spend time studying the masters.  You’re going to see how they compose. Making a painting is like composing a symphony except you’re using colors and lines instead of notes and instruments.

Q: What was your first work of art?
A: It was a drawing of a sunflower, and the teacher told me it looked like Picasso.

Q: What is your favorite instrument to paint with and why?
A: A variety of brushes. I want to keep to that traditional sense. I feel like brushes are the way it was meant to be done.

Q: What kind of occupation do you hope to get?
A: I’d like to go into teaching. Ultimately, I’d like to do studio work.

Q: On average, how much time do you spend on a single painting?
A: Forty hours.

Q: What do you feel painting offers that other areas of art do not?
A: Freedom of expression. You can put anything on a canvas, but you can’t put everything in print or everything in a drawing that you want.