Artist & Studio

Photos of the artist and various studios revealing the work environments where the artist has been creating artwork over the years. These photos are in no particular chronological order.

The artist deep in thought or just staring out into space? Who knows? Things are not always what they seem. Lighten up dude! Photo was taken in November 2023

Yes! That beard is getting too long. Photo taken November 2023

One of the early pictures after the move into the new house. The studio, which is small gets stuffed fast when you cant find places to store all your old paintings and books. One of the things I did was to buy a new carpet for the floor. The floor was already carpeted but I needed something I could drop paint on and still keep the carpet looking clean. I think for the palette colors I use this carpet should be pretty good at masking the mess. What do you think? Photo taken 2025

Left Washington and moved to Idaho. What a chore but the timing was right. Here is my new studio. Tiny as it is, I am surprised how functional a space slightly larger than 10’x10′ can be. Some of my equipment and material supplies were lost in the move, which included some of my artwork, but I am happy with what I have. Still in the process of settling in and I really haven’t started back into the regimen of producing artwork yet. but the itch is there even though a few days ago when I tried painting again my shoulder was still aching from rearranging packed boxes in the garage. Photo taken in 2025

Here is that 1882 Vose & Sons baby grand piano at the other end of the north window studio. You can see it needs a lot of TLC and money to make it come alive again. It’s gone now… somewhere? Photo taken July 2020

While wearing his ‘Bald is Beautiful’ shirt and playing around with his grandson one day, the artist took a couple of big wheel tires from the grandsons toy truck and used then as part of his glasses. Play should always be a part of life and creativity. Having fun with it! Photo taken May 2022

The new/old upstairs loft studio space with its walls repainted with a lighter shade of green. The carpet even after being cleaned is almost a lost cause but that’s OK for studio use. The floors will be draped with wall to wall canvas drop clothes. Photo taken November 2023

About half of the “Out of Your Mind” series is seen on the wall. This is during the time the north window studio was being used. The idea of that series is that the interpretation of the art would come out of your mind, but I suspect that some who saw the artwork may have thought the artist himself was out of his mind! Not everybody sees what everybody else does… thank God! Photo taken September 2021

Here is a Phoenix painting that was never completely finished. Photo was taken in November 2023

In the old (not yet new/old) ) studio back in 2012 preparing canvases. At this time the artist was stretching his own canvases, gessoing them, sanding the surface before they could be used for painting. Listening to music is a normal thing while working on various projects in the studio.

This was a second chance for the upstairs loft studio. With the repeat of our adult kids moving out again, this space was available for repurposing. It was the second time the loft would become the studio. Here the space is opened but not cleared out and soon would be ready for the walls to be painted. The space had formerly been the middle grandson’s bedroom, but now with his parents moved out, he could move into their old room, where he would have more privacy. The mural on the wall was painted as a Christmas gift to him in 2015. It was decided to paint around the mural and preserve it as part of the new studio space. Photo taken November 2023

Stretcher bars of all sizes, put together, and waiting for canvas. Most of these got left behind in the move to Idaho. Photo taken November 2023

Posing in front of some of the paintings from the ‘Out of Your Mind’ series (series painted between 2013 and 2015) is the Artist. His shirts sometimes look like they came off his easel. The beard has been a part of his appearance about all of his adult life. Photo was taken in January 2022

Here is the artist, late at night, in the very tiny studio. Photo 2025

The artist with headphones. Being very hard of hearing does not prevent trying to listen to various kinds of audio. Classical to Christian music and audio books are favorites while in the studio. Photo taken September 2021

The new/old Loft Studio with most of the stuff moved in. It is still pretty empty and does not have the settled in feeling the previous studios have had. Perhaps, give it some time to season up. You can see Fred’s Dog – Jethro (painting now finished) peeking over the desk to the right. Photo taken November 2023

The old north window studio. Smaller than the Loft Studio. Space has always been an issue and as more paintings are created storage space becomes more and more difficult to find. This area was the studio’s home for several years and many paintings were produced from there. The chair was given to the artist by his son. It is well worn but not worn out. Works great! The headphones are often part of the painting process. Listening preferences range from classical to christian music and can include audio books. Studio is almost never in perfect order and chaos may seem to reign over the floor and work table but that never seems to detour the creative spirit. There is a canvas panel on the easel that has been toned and is ready to be painted on. As I recall the easel was purchased for half price back about 2009 and has the paint stains of both oil and acrylic paint from over the last 13 years. Photo taken September 2021

The area downstairs where my studio had been after moving much of it upstairs into the loft. The artist had a baby grand piano that was bought more than 50 years ago. it is in the corner on its side. It had seen better days and the cost to rebuild is greater than its worth. At the time of the photo the piano was around 141 years old. Photo taken November 2023

This was the old loft studio that was used around 2012 showing the artist posing at the easel. Seated on a red chair borrowed from the dining table downstairs. The move to the upstairs loft was enabled when his adult children moved away from home. This left space which could be converted into a painting studio. The painting space prior to this had been a small corner carved out in a corner of the kitchen eating nook where it had been for 3 years before. That red kitchen chair was a reminder of those years. Also surrounding the artist are the creations from the ‘In Red’ and ‘Human Security’ series. In the background on the door is the blow up for the digital mock up of the partially done painting (on the floor against the wall) ‘In the Beginning.’ Photo taken May 2012

The work table of the artist (as shown from the days of the old north window studio). Not one for much fancy ‘store bought’ equipment, the table top is a scrap of pressed board on a discarded wood table that was given him from his last employer. Old pickle jars for brushes. Golden heavy body acrylics are the standard paint in tubes used for most all work done since about 2013. Photo taken September 2021

Cutting canvas cloth to size always leaves scraps of different sizes. Early on, I had experimented with assembling shapes of leftover canvas over other canvases… but it never grabbed my interest too much. Still I was accumulating boxes of scraps… What to do with them? I lost my scrap boxes in the move so – problem solved!

You cant tell when inspiration will strike. There are no check in or out times for the fountain of artistic creativity to start and stop. Sometimes while resting or taking a nap you might find it… and that is the spark to start the engines of creativity. Mostly it comes while you work, after you start, or even when you thought you were finished. That vision that sets everything in a perspective that urges you on. Digital collage created September 2021

Sitting at the desk that his father used in his law practice as far back as 1958, the artist is shown working on the Art and Imagination of David L Friend website (the one prior to the current one). Photo taken February 2024