Ben McLaughlin

"Being an artist is totally self-indulgent, but somebody has to do it." 

After an ex-girlfriend decided to toss away all his old work, Ben McLaughlin started a new series of works. These works seemed to have a reoccurring theme of lonely scenes and titles that had nothing to do with the paintings at all. Every title is either from the newspaper, a radio, or a crossword puzzle. I find that to be almost more interesting than the paintings at times. It makes me think about how even though we are in one place doing what is important to us at that moment, the rest of the world doesn't stop with us. New events are taking place every day when all we can think about is our own lives. His paintings opened my eyes a little more and got me thinking. I am also very interested in his realistic style. Somehow he knows exactly how to make paintings look real and detailed without putting too much detail into. This is something I need to learn. I tend to take too much time with little things and I overwork the paintings a lot. I love that in an up close view of his paintings, you can see little brush strokes and imperfections. this is a great method for me to follow considering I have a hard time loosening up and working fast. He is inspiration for my landscape paintings and anything of the like. I love his approach to the seemingly unimportant and the way he turns them in to something important.