​Spoiler alert…there isn’t an actual glitter cannon involved in my 2022 tour (ikr?!). Although, those who know me best know that I usually carry a satchel of the sparkly awesomeness for emergencies.  But as a glitter cannon spreads fabulous around, my goal for 2022 is to spread my art, my message, my color palette, lots of love and of course, the gay agenda, to as many people as possible. 

​There are a fair amount of people who know my full body of work who say they don’t really see my art as gay…it’s not specifically gay art as they see it.  While it is true that not all of my subject matter from the past 22 years is stereotypically gay, it’s also true that it was painted by a gay person, with a gay brain and gay hands.  All of it created from a gay perspective with the passion of a gay soul.  I’ve spent the last 22 years trying to bring my artwork out of the closet in a way that felt real to me, and in the past handful of years, all of my work contains inspiration from queer folks, even if it doesn’t look like it at a glance.  And that’s part of the point.  As everyone is at a different stage of “outness”, it is important to me that I have a spectrum of visuals from subtle to outrageously, fabulously queer.   My plan for the glitter cannon tour is to keep the range, and keep pushing the envelope on the ofq end of the spectrum.  I can hear the pearls being clutched already.

​Being visible for the LGBTQ and allied community is not new for me, but it is definitely agenda item #1 for the 2022 Glitter Cannon tour of the U.S.

​It’s been a gradual progression.  Over the past few years, I’ve been cutting back on showing in my home area and popping up in other regional locations.  This year I’ll be headed much further out, to as many as 8 states to get my art in front of new audiences and hopefully leave my mark (as only glitter can do!) and come home with new inspiration from you (all the “you’s” I’ve met and will meet this year!) for 2022 and beyond.  The give and take between you and I is essential for my work, as I’m not 16 anymore…no longer creating work that is just about me, and random things that I like. The picture is much bigger, the stories more varied, the LGBTQ community is so much deeper and more diverse than many think. 

​And this is why I was so torn on the decision not to show in my home area in 2022 (except for my holiday home show of course!).  I really have met so many amazing folks on the streets of the western suburbs of Chicago (I mean, I live here), particularly the young folks…some who have literally inspired pieces of art that I’m currently working on (canvases primed!).  It’s an interesting phenomenon, however, when you can meet some of the most amazing people, and run into ignorance at the same time…like, literally at the same time.  Having multiple nearby artists and patrons come up to me throughout the weekend to report derogatory comments made behind my booth isn’t really a great feeling…though I appreciate their support.  I’m not really complaining about the comments themselves—people deal with much worse, but the whole ignorant vibe is kinda sad being in my home area and all.

I'm just not queer for it. 

​What bodes well for 2022 is that everywhere I go I meet more LGBTQ folks and allies, hearing your stories and gathering inspiration for new pieces.  Community connection with new folks, and maintaining connections with those of you I already know and love is most definitely an agenda item on the Glitter Cannon tour. 

Keith Haring has become all the rage in the past several years…everyone seems to have his art on their clothes, wearing it proudly.  Half of me is ok with this, because what’s wrong with just liking the happy little stick figure art on a t-shirt regardless of its intended meaning?  The other half of me laughs because most of these people probably have no idea of the meaning behind his art, or who Keith Haring even was.   

People tell me all the time that my art will be worth more, or that I’ll be famous when, I’m dead.  Thanks for the news flash.  But speaking of Keith Haring, while many of us know and love his work for what it and he stand for, many have never even heard his name, and with him having passed away in 1989, all of this is out of his control.  I can't control fate, but there’s something to be said for having the ability to control my message and where and how my art is exhibited, even if I’m not yet famous, or wealthy.   

​Being present.  Clearly this is an important part of the Glitter Cannon tour at this point.  While I mostly let my work speak for itself and let the viewer see what they see in it, I will also be there in case you want to chat! 

A woman and her friend entered my booth and she proceeded to use my art to educate her friend on the meanings of different pride flags (love this!).  She then saw one of my bear claw paintings and made her best attempt at a pc explanation of what a bear is…after she stumbled over her words for a few second I stepped in...”a bear is a large, hairy man”  I stated with a slight grin (I think it was slight).  She thanked me as she exhaled in relief.  I giggled inside (I think it was inside).  I loved this whole interaction.  Good allies are so very valuable in the community. 

​The very next week, a real live bear walked in my booth and bought that piece.

​A set of parents walked into my booth with their kiddo.  After some discussion of which bee they wanted (I was about to introduce them as my “Gaybees”, but bit my tongue) kiddo pointed to the one with the bisexual color scheme.  Using generic language, I chatted while taking the bee off the wall to wrap it up.  Noticing there was no title on the bee, Dad looked me dead in the eyes and said, “You should title it ‘Bi Bee’.” Oh good, you know! I thought to myself.  I proceeded to say 6 or 7 gay things and sent them on their way.

​A college student came into my booth by themself and bought 2 prints.  One was “for when my parents visit” and the other was “just for me”. 

​A school field trip brought a slew of queer youth to my booth.  Their outness made me happy and their dollars made up the majority of my sales that day.  I particularly love seeing them talk about their identities through my art.  I’m finding more and more need for non-binary and trans related art.  A supportive teacher came by the next day for some art…apparently the youth had been talking about my booth!

​Lots of fabulous queens (drag and otherwise) stopped in my booth in 2021…all the heels and big hair have me thinking about my booth height!

​Letting people be themselves, express themselves, label themselves, and interacting as needed…that remains on the agenda for this year.  Also, having FUN.  Life is full of enough garbage…fun is on the agenda for Glitter Cannon 2022.  

​
​These are a few of the “clean” anecdotes from 2021.  Maybe I’ll write a book for the not-so-clean ones at some point.  Will discuss this with my agent, Champagne Toast.

​So that’s a lot of words to say that I’m so excited to be spraying my vibe all over the country like a gay man with glitter (too literal?).  I hope to see your happy clappy faces somewhere along the way!  Even if you’re miserable…will be nice to see you.  I already have some new pieces to show off and I’m working on many new paintings in a range of themes including music and musical theater inspired pieces, Chicago art, quirky statement pieces, my queer “what if” take on the 1950’s, and so much more!  Follow my Insta @thaddeus_art for progress images of these pieces!
Shows in IL, FL, VA, and MN are booked, and I’m waiting on jury results for the remaining 4 states.  Check the calendar on my “connect page” for more details! 

See you soon!

That box we want to check, that passion project we need to take a stab at, that simple task that should have been easy enough to get done by now.  "Let's get cooking" we tell ourselves, yet our passion project ingredients are still at the store.  Ok, so generally speaking, I’ve never been much of a procrastinator, but some things get away from all of us.  At this point in time, a combination of the current world situation and my professional situation seem to be pushing me to fervently turn the knob clockwise on projects I’ve had on the back burner. 
 
Light it up!
Let’s begin by addressing the unicorn in the room…we are not promised tomorrow! 
Reason enough to get at it, right?   If you knew you had one year left as a healthy and capable human, would you get to your uncompleted projects?  Would it make a difference if you knew that every action you take from here on forward is a step towards finalizing your legacy?  Personally I take this scenario literally, except instead of a year, it's pretty much every day.  Is this healthy? I don't know, but I do know that I have much left to create, and every day that passes is one less day for me paint my artistic legacy.  Ok, enough of Azrael staring me in the face and saying "ticktock"—let’s explore beyond that…

When I was little I loved to draw and I would constantly ask people “what should I draw?” in a desperate attempt for guidance.  This is not uncommon for youth as finding our own voice is often a difficult task and we look to others for the right words, thoughts, and actions when we are starting out.  A substantial portion of my drawings that comprised my collection as a youth were house plans complete with floor plans and details of every lavish room.  My dreams have changed over time, but my passion for creation has not.  With or without the input of others, I kept drawing, painting, sculpting and crafting.   At the time this was a fierce attempt to create as much as possible.  What it turned into was epic practice for a future body of work.  

Times have changed.  I am now active with 7 categories of work in addition to the custom pieces I’m often commissioned for.  I don’t really take separate time for practice, as I consider it built in to the pieces I create everyday.  The goal is no longer to develop a body of work, as that comes with the territory of being a working artist.  I no longer ask people “what should I draw (or paint)”.  The questions I ask now are focused more on the substance of a particular piece.  As I include more diversity in my work, I discuss the imagery with those people I’m representing.   Now more than ever I do research for my work, and while it can be very time consuming, I find it fun!  I’m a dork like that…I love history, especially LGBTQ history, women’s history, black history, and the place of ART in history, particularly art that represents the aforementioned histories.     

​“Vogue”, for example, is so much more than people dancing, it’s a celebration of the LGBTQ community, dance culture, ball culture…a celebration of gender and race, creativity, and body positivity.  For this piece I pulled from years of research of underground ball culture and still asked questions of people I know in related communities not for them to necessarily tell me what to paint, but to hear the words they responded with.  Those words lit the way, not only as a guide for my work, but as an ignition to get this vehicle started—to get this celebratory visual story out there for people to see.
 
With so much energy put into this piece, completing it was a triumph.  I love having such triumphs to look forward to.   Starting a visual story is simple enough, pulling my ideas from the mental side drawer and laying them out, exposed and ready for creation.  Progress on each visual story is always fun as I often catalogue my work along the way while I look forward to that final moment when I sign a piece and consider it complete.  In a world where instant satisfaction reigns supreme, completing a painting is anything but instant, but I believe that is what makes it so satisfying.  Over time, reasons for the prolific nature of my work have changed, but speaking as 2020 Peter, I spend so much time cranking away in my studio because I want these stories to be told, and what better way than with powerful visuals!  

​Even in my personal life (to the extent life currently allows for it) when I don’t have the drive to get through a particular task on a particular day I try and relate said task to completing one of my visual stories…
 
This room is a mess.  I need to re-organize, clean, paint, make it look fabulous.  It’s way too much.  I don’t have time for this!  Ok calm down.  What can I start with that will get me excited to fix up this room?  Find the things that make me happy…my favorite things that will inspire the design of this room. 
I love this gay bull.  
Ok, I've chosen to design the room around Antoni el Toro.  That took 3 seconds, and although I have hours worth of work to do to make this room presentable, I’m now excited!  I actually want to do this… sleep be damned!
 
Ok, so maybe you don’t own a gay bull, but starting with what I love...that’s the way I think with many of my efforts, from the mundane to the fabulously artistic.  There is an art to loving what you do and if you can scout out a way to love doing more than what fits comfortably into your day, that's when the rewarding nature of completing a task really shines!

​In addition to goals met by completing individual pieces of art, completing setup for an exhibit is often a huge triumph as well.  Each art show has hours of planning behind it, as I need to take many factors into consideration like mood, arrangement, price points…all the things that go into curating a Thaddeus Art display.  This year in particular, the planning behind my Holiday Show is fierce as it is my only major show of 2020.  Since August I’ve been creating hand painted items that make up the unique collection of work that is only seen once a year.  Between hand painted ornaments, wrapping paper, wine bags, magnets, jewelry, and other gift items, I’m able to maintain interest in creating these pieces because they are a new and varied collection.  I get to bounce back and forth between different mediums…most of which are not mediums I work with the rest of the year.  And maybe I take a break to clear my head and walk around my work space on my hands for a bit…who doesn’t?!    This collection of gift items is then paired with a house full of original art and giclee prints to create the full Thaddeus Art gift and gallery experience. 

It’s a lot.  Being an artist is a lot.  2020 has been especially rough in finding that spark to light my front burner, spending the year knowing that most of what I’ve been creating won’t result in a paycheck for quite a while.  Reusing old supplies, getting the most out of new ones, painting over old paintings, trying to keep upbeat and exude the forward looking messages that give heart to my work…there’s a lot to think about every day in my studio.  If I looked at everything I create and every show I curate as a whole, I’m not sure I could find the energy to get it done.  Instead of tackling it all at once, I embrace passion as it strikes me, from project to project, from show to show, attaining the ability to look back on what I’ve done and say, “wow…I’ve accomplished a lot, and what I’ve accomplished is fabulous.”  
 
Getting fabulous sh*t done.  I'm queer for it.

Rainbow.  As a self-aware gay man I’ve come to understand that my very existence is revolutionary.   I can’t claim to know what it is like to be black, brown, transgender, or any other “other”, but I do know what it feels like to be the “other ” in the room.  And you know what?  I love it.  Not being the only other mind you, I thrive on being around all the other others.  A room full of everyone who is the same is boring.    Being a token is boring.  My favorite color is rainbow, and I think that says a lot about my artistic mindset.  I literally could never decide on a favorite color, and I cannot feel comfortable in a room full of people who are all the same because I much prefer the diversity of color, gender, age, etc.  It means there are new stories to be told from varying experiences, varying voices.   It’s my happy place, even if it is sometimes a fantasy.  ​

Black lives.  I’m often asked who my favorite person is from my painting “Common Threads: the Birth of Pride”. That’s a difficult question to answer, but my favorite to discuss is Essex Hemphill.  Why?  Everyone has heard of MLK and his epic and essential life.  Some have heard of Bayard Rustin, a gay black man who did amazing civil rights work alongside MLK during the 50’s and 60’s.  Despite the LGBTQ curriculum bill taking effect in Illinois and a few other states around the country, the life of Essex Hemphill will most likely not be a story shared in K-12 schools.  

So here’s the scoop.  Essex was a Chicago born, D.C. raised gay black poet who was known for making a giant contribution to the D.C. art scene through his brave writings and readings.  Here we have a young gay black man making a career in the 80’s and 90’s writing poetry about being a young gay black man, and receiving awards, fellowships, and grants for doing so (www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/essex-hemphill).   In 1986 his friend and fellow writer, Joseph Beam, published an anthology of poems from gay black artists entitled “In the Life”.  The anthology included Essex’s work and it received attention worldwide.  After Joseph died of AIDS in 1988 Essex worked with Joseph’s mother to complete the sequel anthology they entitled “Brother to Brother”.  Dorothy Beam invited Essex to come live in her home so they could work on the project together.  While she knew of her sons homosexuality and writing content, she didn’t know of Joseph’s battle with AIDS until after he succumbed to the disease and his writings then hit the grieving mother in a whole new way.  In 1992 Dorothy Beam was quoted as saying, “My son knew I’m a worker, I’m a go-getter... In his heart, my son knows I would finish his book. If there is a heaven, he’s there and he’s smiling.”
 (this information and more on the story of Dorothy Beam can be found in this January 2019 Philadelphia Inquirer article, written shortly after her passing https://www.inquirer.com/news/joseph-beam-dorothy-obituary-lgbt-black-gay-brother-20190105.html). 

Portraying the value of diversity in my work truly is as much fun as it is important to me.  I enjoy the challenge, adding the fantasy factor to real imagery, bringing each piece back to a place where folks can hear it speak to them.  One person’s simple kiss in public is another’s revolution.  One person sees cute elephants, another sees a poignant reminder of a pivotal life moment.  One person sees representation of people in history, another sees themselves represented in history.   From trite to deep, or anything in between, how one sees these pieces is based in their own back-story more than the intention of my vision.

Whimsy.  I’ve long been a fan of curved lines, of flow, of things swirling, falling and dripping.  These natural elements are embedded into my man-made visuals.  Just like you can never fully capture ones fantasy, you can’t fully capture nature either, so I focus on making nature better.  Brighter colors, exaggerated lines, an angel, a dragon, a phoenix rising from the ashes in an abundance of spectral realness.  

The ultimate symbol of strength and renewal so many of us are imagining for ourselves and for the world right now for various reasons.  The global pandemic has not only caused cataclysmic disruption to our lives on it’s own, but it has made the already weak points in our society fracture, and put unique stressors on our relationships.  Like the phoenix, we will rise from this.  Will we ever be the same?  No, and that’s probably a good thing.  In my fantasy we are each using this time to think differently, build and rebuild our skill sets, hold fast to those who are good for us, and chart a new course for the future, rising through the ashes in a resplendent burst of color.  My hope for “Rainbow Phoenix Rising” is that it raises people up along with it. 

​In my opinion, good art, while it may awe, should not make people feel small.  The Statue of Liberty, for example, is seen by some as a symbol of America’s freedom and to others it is seen as a symbol of what America should be.  Two very different views of the same art, and yet either way it uplifts the spirit, maybe with a feeling of pride, or a drive to work harder to better the lives of others.  Either way, we rise with her, lifting our own torches for our own reasons. 

Young at heart.  Millennials and Gen Z are fabulous at being socially aware, and appreciating art.  In any era, younger generations are often looked upon with dismay by older generations.  I have a one-word theory of why this phenomenon exists…empathy.  To expand on that one word, once people reach a certain age it seems that they forget about what the early part of their journey was like, that they were passionate, made mistakes, had fun, pushed the envelope.  Often times parents and guardians raise children as if the child is to pick up where the parents left off, as if the children should have learned from the experiences of the parents to be the kind of better people the parents had envisioned.  That’s not how this works, that’s not how any of this works.  Certainly we can learn the words of others experiences, but the experiences of others are not our own.   We are all individuals and we start from scratch with our own fresh journey.  I truly believe that empathizing with our younger selves is the gateway to good mentoring of the next generation.  This is how we stay young at heart. 

Each generation is a phoenix unto themselves.  Those who have risen in decades past would do well to blow oxygen into the young puissant embers.  This is what being an ally is…helping others to glow.  The journey doesn’t cease to proceed without supporters, but it sure does make the path longer and steeper if we go it alone.  Rising from the ashes doesn’t mean we were ever defeated…it is a rebirth of sorts, but to me the phoenix is the story of those who have been beaten down, not just in this moment, but over time, only to get fired up and ready to go once again.  These are the spirits that never die, and this is the spirit that I hope comes through in my art and in this piece.  Those who are spirited, playful, ageless, those open to learning, those who appreciate the colors of life that even the most privileged among us can view with wonder, those are the hearts that beat loudest in my ears and those are the hearts that I paint for.

So the phoenix is a mythical creature, but is its meaning pure fantasy, or does it signify a reality?  I think that’s up to you…you with the hearts that I paint for. 

Have you ever felt that driving force to to achieve something, striving to obtain that spot on the proverbial podium for what seems like ages, and once you get there you don’t quite know how you’ll thrive in your newfound position?  As a lifelong artist I feel this way pretty regularly.  Sometimes reaching an achievement proves to be lackluster on its own, and it’s not always the giant, glowing, star shooting, confetti falling, angels trumpeting from heaven kind of moment that will stick with us.

​One of my absolute favorite parts of childhood was summer camp.  I loved it because you didn’t have to be “cool” or popular in your everyday life to fit in.  The most awkward among us could thrive, being our best selves.  Having an older brother who was a couple notches cooler than I was in non-camp life sure didn’t hurt.  I had confidence straight away when I got to camp as Paul and I were treated like rock stars the second we’d step out of Mom’s car and were greeted by our summer friends.  Even as the years went on and my brother aged out, I still felt amazingly loved and looked up to, which gave me an abundance of confidence.  A confidence I felt none of at school (Junior High is awful, am I right?!).  Sure I was a good artist, and I showed that off when I could, but at camp I was also seen as a really good athlete (Ikr?!).  Everyone wanted me on their team.  After Paul left camp, I was often the first one picked for sports teams.  Honest to Judy I have no idea why this was the case in kickball…my foot rarely connected with that spherical object, but I digress…   

Swimming days were the best.  Twice a week we were bused over to a local college to use the pool.  I started off in the shallow end with most of the camp.  In the shallow end we spent half of the time learning the basics of swimming and the other half playing games and screwing around.  But there was another side to the pool…where the older kids were…effortlessly swimming laps across the huge expanse of the dark blue section of the pool, diving for rings, being amazing.  

​The deep end.  I wanted to be there.  

​As young artists we spend so much time in the “shallow end”, learning to use pencil, watercolor, clay, paint, etc. playing with mediums we’ve never tried before.  So much practice.  For those of us who always knew we’d end up in a creative field, it was time very well spent, and while we continue to practice for a lifetime, we can’t stay in the shallow end forever.  Our work needs to mean something more, it needs to speak to people…the louder the better if anyone is ever going to hear or see our artistic message. 

​High School art classes were, in many ways, like summer camp to me.  While I was obviously in the room with other kids from school, I thrived there.  I loved creating in that space.  It was the one room in school where I could be as much of “me” as an otherwise shy, closeted high schooler could be.  I credit Mrs. Pope and Ms. Funke for fostering that fulfilling environment…not all art teachers are created equal, and these two gave me that space.   I was good at something…art…and in that room everyone knew it.  It wasn’t just about being good, but some of us were actually interested unlike half of the class, a hilariously inspirational, yet unserious group of people who mostly took these classes for an easy “A”.    

Ha, an “A”.  Grades matter so much more when you really want it.  Junior year I painted the best watercolor I had created up until that point (and it's still my favorite).  It was a scene based off of a photo I had taken in Hawaii the summer before.  I was so proud of that piece.  I rarely used watercolor, so just coming up with such a magnificent output was a clear triumph. 

​A minus.  

​I know Ms. Funke was watching me as my eyebrows furled…looking at the grade she had given me with contempt, alongside the note that said “more motion in the trees”.  I looked around the room at others receiving their grades on their latest projects…pieces of art thrown together in haste by people who didn’t give a damn…half of them got undeserved A’s.  Garbage.  I got it.  More was expected of my work.  She probably figured it would get under my skin and push me to do that much better the next time.   That’s fine…I still wasn’t about to look at her again the rest of the period.  I think of this A minus a lot.   That one grade surely had me subconsciously throwing motion into my work over time in High School and even more so after, as I began my art career in earnest.  It was also a good metaphor for how I’ve felt much of my life.  A minus.  Good, but not quite great, in so many ways.

So there I was, in the shallow end, swimming laps of freestyle and backstroke, trying to make my way through a fun loving, yet sloppy crowd of my fellow A minuses to get from one side to the other.  
And then I heard it.  The voice of  Ms. Nolan.  She was the shallow end swim instructor at the time, and interestingly an artist herself.  She eventually left camp to pursue an art career in Paris.  Gosh I loved her.  She called out to me with her fingers a half-inch apart, “Peter, you’re this close to being in the deep end”.
I was so excited I gulped a bunch of gross shallow end pee water while trying to maintain a good backstroke.  I grabbed the wall, ready to show off the best damn freestyle I’ve ever swam.  

“You’re in the deep end!”  Ms. Nolan proclaimed.  

And she meant immediately.  Thrilled, I jumped out of the pool and walked over to the dark blue waters of the deep end.  There was a different instructor on that side of the pool for “advanced swimming”, he was currently doing a lap of breast stroke, while the handful of others in this exclusive club were taking turns showing off their swimming prowess.  No one was gulping down pee water as they struggled to reach the wall, there were no kickboards, and the atmosphere was much more serene.  As I stared into the water my excitement didn’t disappear, but it was filtered with a layer of “oops”.  Lessons were basically over for the day so I just jumped in.  My feet didn’t touch the ground.  Where’s the bottom?  This is deeper than I thought, and It’s colder.  They probably don’t pee as much in this end.  I could hear the sounds of my friends in the shallow end having fun and splashing around.  I kinda missed them, but hey, I’ll see them back at camp.  On this side of the pool I was the newbie, the weakest link, the youngest, an A minus in a group of A pluses with an opportunity to prove myself once again.  This would be more challenging.  

​I reached this step as an artist years back, when I decided I was ready to take the plunge and express with my liquid colors full time.  It was uncharted waters for me…both scary and exciting as I looked at the vast expanse of options before me, trying my best in a field of well-seasoned artists.   Over these many years, I’ve driven myself to dive through what is expected of a painter.  I feel like I’ve pushed boundaries of subject matter and brought new life to old imagery.  I’ve created whimsy in my work, creating visual stories through color play and unique line work.  I’ve discovered ways to trick myself into “perfecting” each piece like looking at my work in grayscale to make sure I’ve got the color tones the way I want them.  The black and white in my “Thaddeus Art Behind the Scenes” YouTube video was not just creative flare...it was an expansion of this desaturation practice I use for every piece I create...in addition to the fact that I love me some black and white silent film.  The new part for me is the video production itself.  Throughout this new adventure I've shown off my drag persona Champagne Toast, and created S.B.P, Grayson, L.P., and others.  As a group we have been able to bring the artwork to life in a new way on YouTube.

​I’m proud of what my work has become, not just in style or subject matter, but in what it means to others.  It’s the connection with others through my work that I’m most happy with.  It means I’ve done something right so far.  A new gallery opportunity this coming fall will provide me with some amazing ways to connect with new people.  While I enjoy travel and meeting people in new places, over time I’ve realized that there isn’t anywhere to go beyond the dark blue waters, it’s living up to the challenge while being here that is what keeps one afloat.  No matter how we swim, or what waters we come from, it's all one big pool we are swimming in.  I’m still young, and the world has only seen a splash of what I have in my head.  There are countless options for me to explore in the future, diving further, stroking towards an “A”, or dare I say, an “A plus”.  I’m not entirely certain what that will mean for my work, or my prismatic life…all I know is that I will be figuring it out alongside all the others in the deep end.

​It seems to me that life is one big search party.  We search for ourselves, our purpose, our loves…we discover who our friends and family really are.  Growing up, no one ever tells us that most of the questions that we ask as youth are unanswerable using someone else’s words.  As we all end up learning, we need to find these things for ourselves. 

​It should come as no surprise that as an artist I prefer imagery over words.  I often struggle to unearth the right words to explain how I feel, which is especially evident right now during the tumultuous time that we find ourselves in.  (And yet I start writing a blog *eyeroll*).  Even answers to simple questions such as, What are you working on, When is your next exhibit, even How are you, have been escaping me.  The creative professions, specifically the fine arts, are impacted differently than other fields of work when the world is turbulent.

​What does an artist do to keep a positive vibe in their work when the world is burning, or during a bitter cold winter, or during a time of great personal struggle?  Some artists turn to dark art, changing the direction of their work.  That may work for some artists.  But hello?  Have you seen my work?  I am Peter frickin’ Thaddeus, painter of vibrant artwork full of life, love, and pride. I see in color.  How could I possibly turn this body of work into something as angry as the world that surrounds us?  What does an artist with an upbeat artistic vibe do to protect against the darkness around us?

​I think it’s physically impossible for me to create dark or angry art.  Believe me, I’ve tried.  The darkest I've gotten was a black and white (ish) series of paintings years back.  What began as deep brooding paint strokes on canvas turned into a series of Old Hollywood celebrities like Hedy Lamar and Jean Harlow…from that fabulous photo shoot of her with the vase of what I believe were hydrangeas.  Sure, they aren’t colorful like most of the work I’ve done otherwise, but they are far from “dark”.  I love me some old movies.  Silent horror is amazing. The visuals without knowing what is to come because there are no audible words—brilliance they probably didn’t even know they had.  If I tried to paint these scenes they’d view more as “Young Frankenstein” than “Nosferatu”.

​More recently than the Old Hollywood celebs, I've started using a rain motif in my work.  I love the rain.  Not at an outdoor art show of course, but I’ve had some of the best times in the rain.  It’s also a sign of renewal and life.  Once your hairdo is already ruined there’s really no sense in fretting, right?   I use rain as an overlay in some of my work—imagery I really wanted to paint, but the rain adds one more element, one more challenge if you are predisposed to see it that way.  That said, my rain motif is meant to be, and I think generally seen as an added element as opposed to something sad or dark.  At least the way I paint it.

It’s my nature.  I’m predisposed to the positive, whether I like it or not.  Of course I don’t always feel happy.  I can’t even count the number of times just this week that I wanted to throw in the towel.  Or throw that towel at the wall, or out the window.  Or wrap that towel around a rock, set it on fire, and throw it through said window.  To be certain, these are tough emotional times for us creatives who spend our lives exploring our own expression in all times, good, bad, and otherwise, only to make the final product visible to a world that may or may not feel a connection to it.  
 
With all of this swirling in my mind, I have to say that if I’ve been successful at anything in my 20+ years as a professional artist, it’s keeping my work bright, upbeat, and unique.  
 
So what’s my secret?  I have a few.

​First, I have created my own world.  I’ve done my best to create studio space that is another home…a creation station where I can block out the world for specific periods of time to focus on forming my visuals of expression and send them back out to the world as I rejoin it.  During winter I spend long hours in the studio creating and planning.  The short days never bother me, because my hours are so long I often never see the gloom of the outdoors (with the possible exception of a walk to and from the house, as my studio is on the second story of my detached garage).  I store my vibrant collection of paintings partly on the walls of my house to keep my mood up when I'm there, and the rest I store in my studio…within eyeshot of the painting area.  This distance is close enough to give me energy from the work, but far enough so as not to influence my next piece too much. 
 

​Influence.  That’s a question I get quite often.  What famous artist influenced me?  Judging by the looks on the faces of folks who have posed that question over the years, I never seem to have an acceptable answer to it.  There really isn’t an artist that my work is “influenced” by in terms of style.  Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy the work of many artists, and can even sometimes find commonalities in other artists work when I think about it.  I love the color-play of the Fauves, the simple brilliance of the art of Keith Haring, and the comic intrigue of Roy Lichtenstein, but I’ve never thought to spin off of any of their styles.  I’ve always frowned on the idea of recreating others art (except during the learning process of course).  This is part of me creating my own world.  I would much rather craft something in my brand than model my collections after an artist already famous for their style.  This has been the key to the uniqueness of my work.  Even if it means I’m starting from scratch in getting the world to see and understand my work.  I’d rather be authentically fresh in my approach.

​What is another secret to keeping my work upbeat?  Constantly being conscious of the difference between my input and my output…my input being how I feel, and my output being what the world sees.  Just because I’m angry when I paint something doesn’t mean it will look angry.  Often times my strongest emotions, when paired with a paintbrush, create a focused vision on canvas.   My input changes as my mood shifts while creating a piece, and by the time I get towards the end, I’m more conscious of what that piece is portraying to the world (my output).  What feeling or emotion is this output evoking?  It varies from painting to painting, but most often I hear “happy”, “powerful”, “wow”, and the like.  More recently I’ve gotten tears…from happiness or poignancy, either way, I still consider those “positive” tears.  As I approach the point where a painting becomes more complete, I consider its output and decide whether I can imagine others feeling such feelings.  If so, I continue to complete the piece as planned.   I want my pieces to portray progress, both in style and substance.  Jumping down a dark rabbit hole is not what Thaddeus Art progress looks like.  I didn’t even like writing that sentence.  Most of this thought process is second nature to me now. 

Aside from all that, and maybe most importantly, I’m able to keep my artwork upbeat during the down times because I try everyday to surround myself (virtually or otherwise) with those people who make me feel that there is always room for more good in this world, the kind of good that is beautiful, that is healing, that is fun. 

​We may not ever get all the answers we seek and as barriers pop up along the way, every one seemingly worse than the next, it's worth reflecting and remembering just how we were ever able to see clearly in the first place.  To me art is not only a snapshot of any given time, but it is a beacon, leading us to our next discovery.  

“What inspires you?”  Is a question I’m often asked, and I never seem to have the quick response that some people are looking for.  It’s more complicated than saying “rainbows inspire me” or “queer people inspire me”.  Those things may be true, but they come out sounding shallow and silly in comparison to what has actually inspired my art over time.
 
I started painting heavily around age 12.  I’ve been “arting” for as long as I can remember, but I began painting seriously around age 12.  I started with tropical themes, because I loved the beach and sunsets so so much.  The colors of the sunsets, tropical flowers, lava, and the ocean are all vibrant and bright, so that’s the palette I used (and it stuck!).  They were true to my subject, and besides, those colors made me happy, so why not?  I used vacation photos and pictures from Hawaii calendars for images to work from.  This was my main body of work from middle school and into high school.   

​The tropical theme was great and I've revisited it over the years, but I wanted to paint people.  Not just any people, though.  I wanted to depict the people that I wanted to depict (crazy for a teenager, right?!).  I wasn’t very good at it, but that didn’t matter.  The idea of painting certain people made me come alive.  Let’s come back to this.  
 
In my early high school drawing classes we didn’t draw the human form…it was mostly still-life’s and horses…ugh the horses.  I learned to draw a horse skeleton before I had any formal training on drawing the human form (which I largely taught myself over time).  At home I drew women.  Many, many women.  Women in dresses.  Dresses with fringe and feathers.  And those hats!  Great Judy Garland did I love to design women’s clothing!  I drew other things of course.  Floor plans and renderings for houses, hotels, restaurants, entire islands…I loved to design EVERYTHING.  I taught myself to draw many things, but painting…painting is different.  It’s not only an advanced skill level but painting on canvas just felt more permanent.  Something I’d have to show off.  A canvas painting is too big to tuck away, I can’t just toss it in a sketchbook. 

Back to people…there’s something about painting a person that inherently tells a story.  It says a lot about the artist, as well as the subject.  Ok, fashion…I loved that, but I also wanted to portray something more.   Something more passionate, more raw, more (let’s face it, I was a teenager) sexual.   I wanted to paint gay people.  I didn’t know exactly how I would go about it at that point, but I wanted to.  What’s something adjacent?  Hmm, passionate, raw, sexual, AND something I can have out on a canvas for everyone to see... Ah yes.  Marilyn Monroe.  Classic.  Not the skirt-blowing scene from “Seven Year Itch”, but shiny gold dress Marilyn (I did pencil drawings of her in many outfits but that shimmery gold dress was the winner).  

It was during these painting exercises when I began to realize why gay people loved Marilyn, and Lucy, and Judy, and Liza, and Princess Diana, and all the divas so much.  The stories they exuded through their iconic imagery alone was enough for me at the time.   Their real stories were attractive too.  They drew me in, so I drew them.  Princess Di could be seen in situations from high fashion pageantry to physically embracing people dying of AIDS.  That meant a lot.  Both of those things.  The imagery.  All of it.  And besides, I kinda had a crush on Prince William.   I looked up to Lucy.  She was an enormous talent, funny yet fashionable...amazing.  I wanted to be like her but my own version.  I didn't know of many publicly gay people at that time.  Few queer celebrities for me to look up to, to paint, to model myself after.  I did love Christine Jorgensen, as I had seen "The Christine Jorgensen Story" from 1970 several times.  Her image made it to the idea board in my room, but I never portrayed her in art.  Transgender is still under the rainbow umbrella, and I just wasn't ready to paint anything under that umbrella, as much as I wanted to.

I wanted my own brand of realness.   If I couldn’t have it for real at that age and stage of my life, then I would paint it.  So, I edged closer.  I created a small 8 inch by 10 inch painting of two people headed in for a kiss…two men…silhouettes in the night.   Surely no one would guess that they were two men, right?  I mean, they are just silhouettes.  The thing is, while I had an abundance of passion and drive, I was sorely lacking courage (I once rocked a Cowardly Lion costume...no acting needed!).  After I took a good mental picture of the two men, I painted over one of them to make him look more feminine.  There.  It still has the meaning behind it for me, but no one will ever know.  I didn't even sign this travesty of  pride expression...I've always signed my pieces, even the ones I thought weren't great.  Not this one.

​Eventually we painted people in a high school painting class…a self-portrait.  Great.  Do I paint in the acne that is all over my face, or nah?  I chose nah.  I preferred the abstract Peter.  I painted a version of myself with wild, super tall hair in red and blue color scheme.  Abstract was better.  Abstract allowed for the imagination to go wherever the visual journey takes it.  My next foray into painting art including gay people was my “People of Color” series.  You see, these were literally people of different colors…red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and violet.  They had triangle heads, and the whole idea was that they could be representing people who were black, white, brown, etc., but most importantly for me at the time, they could be any gender.  I played with the masculinity/femininity of each character and would laugh to myself when people would refer to a specific person as a “man” or a “woman” when I had a different thought in mind while painting.  They weren’t necessarily wrong…they just had a different vision of the character, than I did.  In this way, I’ve learned a lot about people’s backgrounds and worldviews from exhibiting my artwork over the past 21 years.  What one sees in a painting says as much about them as it does the piece they are looking at (I don’t judge though-I promise!).

​Eventually I got me some courage.  It took a while.  I tiptoed into LGBTQ art with rainbows and other subtle imagery, but no longer.  In the last 25 years since I began painting heavily, I’ve been passionate about beaches, and fashion, and architecture, and nature…it just makes sense that who I am, who my friends are, who my allies are, who my family is, would eventually find a way off of my inspiration board and onto canvases, and walls, and computer screens for everyone to see.  
 
About 8 years ago I started volunteering for Youth Outlook, a local northern Illinois LGBTQ youth group.  My teenage self had attended this group around the time I was painting beaches and figuring out how to paint two people who are gay, but only to a gay eye.  I see the youth once a week, as a leader for one of our local drop-in sites.  I created my Pride series because of them…because we tell them every week that they can be their authentic selves.  In turn, they are a reminder for me to practice what I preach.  
 
I haven’t changed all that much in the past 25 years…I’m still inspired by several items from the life buffet.  I’ve always had a high art drive, and while I’ve honed my skills, and my knowledge and experience have expanded, on the inside I’m still inspired by many of the things I was as a teen.  The difference as an adult is that I’ve fully embraced my community, which has helped to give me the courage to create authentically in a way I never could have before.  
 
No one has time for this answer to the inspiration question at an art exhibit.  For me, the answer is less of an individual flame and more of a smoldering ember that sparks my fire along the road.  That takes time to explain authentically.