Today we’d like to introduce you to David Hobbs.
David, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
I think as someone who grows up to be an artist, that artist is always with you at some capacity from the moment you’re drawing with crayons on the wall when you’re not supposed to. For the last 20 or so years I’ve focused on painting with acrylics on wooden cutouts of my content. All sorts of subject matter starting simple in the early years and gaining complexity and layers over time. The last few years half of my time has transitioned into sculpting and casting in bronze. Ive spent the last 14 years working in a bronze foundry casting others work so its been an amazing challenge and fresh start getting my own ideas out in clay and seeing it in a finished bronze sculpture.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Ive always been pretty true to creating what makes me happy and not exactly what would hang in the average home so that might be my biggest obstacle. I think like any artist its all about finding that audience that connects to your work and thankfully through the years I have come across those people. Otherwise I am red/green colorblind which has lead to a handful of touch ups when I think I am using a solid green and my wife informs me its definitely brown.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
In the painting side of my art all my paintings are done on pieces of wood that are cutout on a scroll saw and then mounted elevated over the background. It was a niche I fell into very organically after never connecting to the very structured edges of painting on canvas. Most my work includes animals and a lot of floral elements mixed into a more whimsical or imaginative scene.
When I first began sculpting I started with subject matter I wanted hanging around our home. So naturally I started with wall mounted bat sculptures so you could feel as if they were just perched around your home. Through the years Ive added 7 more bats to be cast in bronze and a handful of birds and some Koi fish. Ive wanted to keep the whimsy from my painting mixed into the sculpture so Ive done smaller pieces like a snail with a smoking chimney on its shell or a small wren wearing a crown.
We love surprises, fun facts and unexpected stories. Is there something you can share that might surprise us?
Through my paintings people are always shocked to hear that I am red/green colorblind. Most of my work uses a lot of color and thankfully over time Ive figured out mixing techniques that work well for me but I still mix up green and brown tones often.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hobbsart/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/david.hobbs.54
Image Credits
David Hobbs
