OUR ARTISTS

Tom Descano

THE PAPA GALLERY

Tom Descano

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 sometimes 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! I was eager to visit art museums and exhibits, fascinated by what artists were capable of. In my late 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 enjoy the unique characteristics and advantages that each medium offers. Recently, I have been working with mixed media, which provides an interesting range of new possibilities. I am an aggressively self-taught and intensely-practiced artist, who supplements self-education with occasional art classes and one-on-one instruction.

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 causes you to smile, or gives you a warm feeling, if it soothes you, or energizes you, if it reminds you of someplace you’ve been, or feels like somewhere you would like to be … then I could not be more happy as an artist!

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