Bio

My name is Blake Baines.  Nice to meet you.  

I am a painter born and raised in North Carolina, currently living in Central Virginia.  My educational background has one foot in the analytical pursuits of science and math and the other in studio art.  I am also a woodworker.  This forms the foundation of my approach to painting.  

My work pairs a calculated method of arranging the compositional scaffolding of a piece with a loose intuitive style of handling the paint.  It is the resulting tension between these two processes that holds my attention and inspires deeper inquiry.  I embrace the role of the perpetual student, curious and excited by the outcome of these intersecting worlds.  I put a substantial amount of forethought into planning my pieces to give myself the ability to paint with reckless abandon and the freedom to change directions spontaneously.

I use oil paint to investigate color interaction, allowing the way in which colors touch and harmonize dictate the direction of my paintings.  I try to stay open without controlling or interfering as the painting unfolds to allow for unexpected possibilities.  It's important to me to listen to the painting.

Recently abstraction has found its way into my work and I am enjoying its presence as I allow it to mingle with the more representational images.  I see the potential in the connection between the two through the various elements  of shape, color and scale.

bbaines@blakebainesart.com