Tom Descano is a Paducah-area artist whose love for nature’s scenic beauty drives his preference for painting landscapes, seascapes and still life. Tom works in acrylic, watercolor, pastel, oil and mixed media. He often implements his subjects with vivid expressive color. Tom’s styles tend toward impressionist and abstract.
Thoughts from Tom: For me, creating art is a spiritual activity. It is an extension of my spiritual connection to nature, the places I’ve been, the experiences I’ve enjoyed, and the people with whom I’ve shared it all.
Through my art, I seek to interpret and showcase the immense beauty of the world around us, highlighting the elements that strike me the most. I attempt to use color to convey what I feel about any subject I paint.
As long as I can remember, I had the desire to create art. At a young age, I was encouraged by my grandfather who recognized what he described as natural talent in my pencil drawings. In my teenage years, I began working with artist’s oil paint. After a few years of oil painting, I began experimenting with watercolor, pastels, and eventually acrylics.
Today I use all those mediums. I could never stick to just one. I enjoy the unique characteristics and advantages that each medium offers. Recently I have been working with mixed media, which provides a wide range of fun possibilities. I am an aggressively self-taught and intensely-practiced artist, who supplements his self-education with occasional evening or weekend art classes, and one-on-one instruction.
There were times when the priorities of career and family left little time for art. Throughout all those years, I always had a plan to devote most of my retired life to my passion for creating art. So here I am, in the charming, history-rich town of Paducah that has a great art community and supports the arts of all types.
Western Kentucky and southern Illinois provide me with a nearly unlimited wealth of subject matter, with their vast forests, lakes and rivers, farms, charming towns, and everything in-between. I am also inspired by the many beautiful places I have encountered in my travels throughout the US and around the world.
If you view one of my paintings, and it puts a smile on your face, or gives you a warm or happy feeling, energizes you, causes you to stop and ponder, reminds you of someplace you’ve been, or somewhere you would like to be, then I am most pleased!
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Shimmer
