Onward through school - I remember making linoleum block prints of eagles and scratch art drawings of spiders. Draping yarn coated with papier mache over balloons. Copper rubbings of dogs. Macrame belts and plant hangers. Mr Bullock, my art teacher in high school, dressed perfectly. He always seemed ready to go yachting, or perhaps attend a distinguished social function. He taught lettering one semester and I detested it. Seriously. And now? You guessed it - I adore lettering and fonts. In college, Professor Brust was intent on teaching me gestural expression. He insisted I break free of my old habits and cliches in painting, something every artist must do if they are going to progress. He was a gently intense man, with watery blue eyes and a crisp sense of humor. It was during this time my attention turned from painting to photography. It might have been because my photography teacher, Professor Heil, could have been a model. Or I got impatient waiting for the oil to dry. Anyway, after spending 10+ years chasing film I came to my senses and returned to painting.
Painting - art - for me, is another way to communicate. The language is imagery, instead of words, although words often find their way into my paintings. My work deals with deeper Spiritual subjects, man's relationship to the world around him and within him. Nature. Universal Laws. And the occasional fluffy unicorn painting. Just kidding.
My main stylistic influences are the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, Classicism, Orientalism, Art Nouveau, and Symbolism - good work by people who are now dead. And then there is music. Thank God for music.
I am grateful for the teachers, artists, music, family and friends who have inspired and supported me through the years!
Vicky J Bubnell (Aldrich)
All content copyright Vicky J Bubnell Aldrich, 1972-2021, unless otherwise noted. Do not use without prior permission of the artist. Thank you!
I began painting in oils when I was 8 years old and have stayed with that medium, on and off, for the past 50 years.
That about sums it up, right?
My first teacher, Mrs Wright, taught painting in the small sun room of her Florida home. Easels and boxes, paper and plants everywhere. One day she snapped off an aloe leaf and squeezed the syrupy juice onto the skin of another young student with sunburn. To me, she seemed to know the secrets of the universe. She had a giant painting of a shark in her hallway. It was dark, with just the figure of the shark twisting towards the viewer. There was a watery shaft of light filtering down from the upper left corner. How it fascinated me! She would shoo me away, saying "go home and practice now".
Sea Mountain
Age 10
Storm at Sea
Age 10
