Hannah No. 10 by Randall Steinke
Oil on Canvas, 30x40, 2024
At the beginning of Covid in 2020 I fell square on my butt crushing my T-1 vertebrae thus breaking my back and causing paralysis in my lower body. Consequently I also had a mental health emergency. They finally decided to operate on my back to clear bone fragments from my spinal cord which restored movement in my lower body. All this time I was in a back brace, wheelchair and Physical Therapy and getting the mental health help I needed. During that time I took up sketching and acrylic painting on paper. Finally in 2023 I was able to remove the back brace.The act of artwork combined with my Mental Health Therapy brought me back to reality. I now paint because I love it and the mindfulness it brings to me.
I fell in love with painting in college when I had painting and art history classes. I have painted ever since then but in intermittent periods. Life circumstances led me back to painting which I now turned into a full-time profession. I paint in a figurative expressionist (colorist) style which uses bold vibrant colors on figurative subjects with the use of shapes to coalesce into an artwork. In my Hannah Series started in February 2024 I wanted to explore composition, color, and complex backgrounds (heavily influenced by Matisse’s portrait drawings and paintings completed in the 1930’s), and to improve face, hand and foliage painting techniques.
Randy
Oil on Canvas, 30x40, 2024
At the beginning of Covid in 2020 I fell square on my butt crushing my T-1 vertebrae thus breaking my back and causing paralysis in my lower body. Consequently I also had a mental health emergency. They finally decided to operate on my back to clear bone fragments from my spinal cord which restored movement in my lower body. All this time I was in a back brace, wheelchair and Physical Therapy and getting the mental health help I needed. During that time I took up sketching and acrylic painting on paper. Finally in 2023 I was able to remove the back brace.The act of artwork combined with my Mental Health Therapy brought me back to reality. I now paint because I love it and the mindfulness it brings to me.
I fell in love with painting in college when I had painting and art history classes. I have painted ever since then but in intermittent periods. Life circumstances led me back to painting which I now turned into a full-time profession. I paint in a figurative expressionist (colorist) style which uses bold vibrant colors on figurative subjects with the use of shapes to coalesce into an artwork. In my Hannah Series started in February 2024 I wanted to explore composition, color, and complex backgrounds (heavily influenced by Matisse’s portrait drawings and paintings completed in the 1930’s), and to improve face, hand and foliage painting techniques.
Randy
Oil on Canvas, 30x40, 2024
At the beginning of Covid in 2020 I fell square on my butt crushing my T-1 vertebrae thus breaking my back and causing paralysis in my lower body. Consequently I also had a mental health emergency. They finally decided to operate on my back to clear bone fragments from my spinal cord which restored movement in my lower body. All this time I was in a back brace, wheelchair and Physical Therapy and getting the mental health help I needed. During that time I took up sketching and acrylic painting on paper. Finally in 2023 I was able to remove the back brace.The act of artwork combined with my Mental Health Therapy brought me back to reality. I now paint because I love it and the mindfulness it brings to me.
I fell in love with painting in college when I had painting and art history classes. I have painted ever since then but in intermittent periods. Life circumstances led me back to painting which I now turned into a full-time profession. I paint in a figurative expressionist (colorist) style which uses bold vibrant colors on figurative subjects with the use of shapes to coalesce into an artwork. In my Hannah Series started in February 2024 I wanted to explore composition, color, and complex backgrounds (heavily influenced by Matisse’s portrait drawings and paintings completed in the 1930’s), and to improve face, hand and foliage painting techniques.
Randy