Walt Henry

I have been creating and studying art independently since childhood. Born and raised in Massachusetts I found the urban immigrant and blue-collar cultures very exciting and inspiring. I lived in Boston and Chicago, focusing on my artwork.

I spend hours and hours viewing artists’ work in galleries online. I am inspired and influenced by reli-gious icons, pin-up art, urban and outsider art, tattoo artists, and a wide range of contemporary Illustra-tors and Pop artists. My favorites include Yuri Gorbachev, Michael Parkes, Daniel Merriam, John Baizley, Patricia Boyd, Sonya Suhariyan, Mary Mark, Kris Kuksi, Nicholas Simmons, and Brian Vive-ros.

Although the figure, portraits, and the nude have dominated most of my earlier realistic renderings in pencil, I began to develop my own style using patterns, figures with patterns, and flat color. I love the rhythmic movements of script and calligraphy. I’m fascinated by patterns and paisley in particular.

With spontaneity being my goal, I try to develop designs and patterns while I draw but the spontaneity is in the composition. The patterns and designs are filled in later. While drawing, the key is to not think but just do ... just draw. The base of paintings is from attitude and feeling, not a copy of something I see. I’ve experimented with other media but enjoy guoache and watercolor.

I look for reference to find a pose that will give the attitude I want. Pencil in hand, I start with the flow of the composition then I draw a rough sketch and continue to refine the lines and add patterns to com-plete the drawing. The pattern paintings are often taken from the drawings with figures. When drawing, music is key, along with the company of my two dogs JoJo and Wiley. When I review a drawing I see symbols of past and present and find areas of the drawing that inspire future work. Before bed I scan my sketchbooks looking for a new spark of inspiration from my drawings old and new.

I have taught Art in public and private schools in Massachusetts, including adult evening division at The Worcester Art Museum, and Illinois and lectured at the University of Massachusetts. I have done editorial illustration work, greeting card illustrations, and commissioned portraits. While in Chicago I also did a television interview. I also exhibited artworks in several one-man shows and group exhibits.

My works are in private collections throughout the United States, Australia, Britain, Japan, France, Scotland, Finland, and Norway.

I now live in NW Arkansas where I find comfort and inspiration in a home filled with books and art, music, and my two dogs. I enjoy the solitary creative life in the Ozarks.

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