Chris Cook is a dear friend of mine, a member of the congregation at my church, and the father of two young boys who are active and involved in the children’s and youth ministry where I serve on staff. In addition to all of that, he is also my employer; part of my job is to write blog posts about his works of art in an effort to increase awareness of his paintings, and develop a following within the art community. I say all of this to tell you that there are certain paintings that are easier than others to write about than others;
Many of them are of a spiritual nature, which makes it easy for a youth pastor to find content.
Some of them are abstract, which stretches this simple minded Georgia boy a little bit to “understand” and “explain” them,
A lot of them blend styles and themes from popular artists like da Vinci and Picasso, forcing me to dig deep down to the “fine art” exposure that I’ve had in the past, and to remember what my teachers taught us about back in grade school.
And then, there are paintings like this, where Chris has captured a very personal moment with him and his older brother Mike. How do I even begin to write about these two boys, of which I know very little? What can I say about this piece of art that my boss made to express his bond with his brother as they grew up in the Conyers area? What do begin to say about his expression of colors, the blending of mediums, and styles? And, more importantly, how about the overalls that chris has on!? 😉
The truth is, I really do like this painting.
Artistically – Chris sketched this out based on an old photograph that he had of him and Mike taken some years back. He’s told me that he doesn’t do a lot of pencil sketches, so this one must be important. The article in the paper was glued on, in an effort to re-establish the “Georgian” childhood. The colors were all sort of free formed around the sketch and paper article. Overall, I think it works really well to come together into an impressive work of art.
Personally – The two boys could just as easily be my brother Luke and me, or any other little boys growing up in rural Georgia. Chris shared that “Mike was probably about to load me into a wagon and send me down the street to get rid of me”, a thought that I can sympathize with as a little brother. I can recall many “rainy nights in Georgia” full of good sleep. The picture is fun to look at, because of the successful blending of colors and styles. I really like this work of art.
Chris Cook is a premier southern artist and owner of Madison Studios, a web design, maintenance, and e-commerce and marketing company. For his artist biography, contact information, or to view more of his work, click HERE.
