DPW Spotlight Interview: Greg Bombeck

Each week we will spotlight a different DPW artist who will give away one of their best paintings. To enter to win Greg's painting "The Pennsylvania Farm" go to Daily Paintworks and click on the link at the top of the page announcing their interview.



From Greg's DPW Gallery Page:

After a stint as a secondary school art teacher, I attended Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, which lead to work as a storyboard / layout artist at Hanna-Barbara Studios in Hollywood. After numerous Scooby Doos, Godzillas and Superfriends, I started drawing storyboards for ad agencies. This lead to my owning and operating an advertising agency (for numerous years). While writing ads, I painted landscapes as time would allow. Now, I spend my time painting primarily landscapes near my home in Eagle River, Alaska and residence in Ennis, Montana.

Tell us a bit about how you first started painting. 

Both my mother and father had an interest in art. My mother painted when she was a young woman and was quite good. Unfortunately, growing up during The Great Depression, she did not pursue art as a career. My father was more of a draftsman. Like most parents, when I was a child, they encouraged me with lavish, unwarranted praise for my rudimentary drawings. It must have stuck, I have continued to draw and paint throughout my adulthood.

What mediums and genres have you experimented with?

I favor oils, love the expediency of watercolors, and having done a few stone lithos as a student – wish I had a stone and litho press.

The Pennsylvania Farm
(click to view)

Enter to win by clicking on the link at the top of the DPW home page announcing Greg's interview.

Which ones have "stuck" and which ones have fallen away? 

I painted watercolors when starting out, later, I tackled oils. I have always believed watercolors to be more forgiving than oils. To answer what has fallen away, I’d like to do stone lithography.

Which ones are you looking forward to exploring?

I like to mix it up, paint in oils one day, watercolors the next. Regardless of where one is in their artistic development, I think artists are adventurers and exploration is what happens when you have brush in hand.  It’s the old adage, “…the more you know, the more you know you don’t know.”

Woodlands, Nancy Lake, Alaska
(click to view)

Who or what inspires you most?

It is amazing what the internet has brought us. Look at all the accomplished artists whose work is now visible through the internet, such as the artists from Europe and the former eastern block nations who post on DPW. What a great venue the internet is for bringing talented, once obscure artists to our attention. I am continually inspired by the variety and depth of talent out there.

What does procrastination look like for you? 

 My couch.

View from Fire Creek
(click to view)

What techniques work to ensure that you make time for your art?

Finding time to paint was difficult while working on a career and raising a large family. Fortunately, when I was starting out, I was paid to draw 40 hours a week doing storyboards and scene layouts for animation. Then, I reached a point fairly early in my advertising career, where I was able to work part time from home and enjoy more brush time.

How do you generally arrive at ideas for your paintings?

A landscape painter is surrounded by subject matter. Parsing it down seems to be the challenge.

Eagle River Vallet View#2

How do you keep art “fresh?"

Artists often talk about being “in the zone.” I am still working on that. I tend to over think what I am doing, and subsequently, over work a painting. I do stumble into the zone occasionally. For me, I think “fresh” happens there.

What techniques have helped you avoid burnout and keep your work vibrant and engaging?

I do not finish a painting every day. I struggle with small formats. I do however, try to paint some everyday, and it seems to be working for me. Some days I paint for hours, some days for minutes. “Miles of canvas” as they say, is the road to success.

South Meadow Creek View, McAllister, Montana
(click to view)

What do you feel you are learning about right now as an artist?

You are never too old.

What makes you happiest about your art?

It’s a window.

Thanks, Greg!

© 2019 Sophie Marine