Artist Statement

It’s difficult to define the motivations and thought processes that result in my art work. As I suspect is the case with most artists, the only knowable driving factor behind what I do is compulsion. I create because I was meant to create.

My own experience has been that deciphering what my work is “about” usually comes after the work has already been created, so I’ve made that an intentional part of my creation process. I start painting with little or no plan about subject matter or meaning. This process usually begins with painting a single pair of eyes, working outward to create a figure, more figures, and finally an environment. Each newly added element suggests the next element I should include. The resulting scene is wild and splendid.

I don’t know or pretend to know why I paint the things I do, but I can certainly describe what I paint. I paint people with vacant expressions. I paint animals doing things that animals don’t normally do. I paint odd scenes that have no reasonable explanation.

I paint these things for my own amusement, and when I’m lucky my work amuses other people as well. Invariably, those captivated viewers will ask for the story behind what they are seeing. My answer is always the same:

“Your guess is as good as mine.”

Dustin Timbrook

Photo by Eric Schultz/ Huntsville Times