Traditional classical beauty I am addicted to. I see it all the time; it applies to anybody or any place at any time, mostly when my mind should be focused on the reality of the moment. The people and places of what I consider beautiful, pulls me to the forever- ready canvas in my mind.

I am complete when painting a person or place that I’ve fallen in love with and as strange as it sounds, I actually do fall in love. This image becomes my child. It is my responsibility for its development, and the end result is: does it make people that come in contact with it feel calm, comfortable, and happy, if so, I am pretty much a successful parent.

I usually have the painting already done in my head when I know it will meet everything I require to put it together. This means if the moment isn’t attacked and preserved, I lose the opportunity, all attributes are gone, never to be connected with again.

I work mostly on passion and emotion, blended with either the speed that comes with aggression or the slow careful tenderness that I carry when I almost ‘sneak up’on a canvas. I feel as though I have to apply the paint so lightly I’m afraid I’ll wake up something that will ruin it all.

My methodology is always in question because my technique is mostly based on passion and emotion, which seems to put the next painting in a desperate state to start. But, like any addiction, I’m always looking for the next high, which has to be better than the last.”

Mark Thompson is a local painter whose figurative works are currently shown at Waterhouse Gallery in Santa Barbara. He is also a member of the Ojai Studio Artist group. A collection of his work can be seen at his studio in Ojai and at the Artwalk in Historic downtownVentura.