Scott W. Prior: Painting the Urban Landscape |
How This Man Went From Being Kicked Out of College to Being an Urban Landscape Icon and Bad Boy of the Fine Art World… Most people don’t picture the typical artist as a tough-guy wrestler from the inner city. Yet every time Scott W. Prior got laid up with wrestling injuries in high school, his mom would take the art supplies from the attic and encourage him to paint to pass the time it took to heal his wounded body (and ego). His friends would mock him for being an artist. “Some tough guy,” they’d say. At the end of high school, Scott was accepted to San Diego State University, where he bounced around majors, trying to figure out where he fit in. He tried everything from nutrition and physical therapy to business and radio communications… …but no matter what he tried, Scott could not find a path that felt right to him. And so he did what most any college kid would do … he partied. In fact, he partied so much, and so hard, that he got kicked out of school. He was back at home, unsure of what to do next. His mother handed him some art supplies and encouraged him to pick up painting again. Before he knew it, he was attending the Academy of Art University in San Francisco, studying under such revered artists as Craig Nelson, Bill Maughan, and Huihan Liu. From Waiting Tables to Fine Artist When he graduated from the Academy of Art, Scott had big expectations for his career. He’d learned from the best in the business, after all. And yet the art world isn’t always about how good you are at painting, and Scott struggled to find his footing. In fact, for a period of time, he was doing jobs like waiting tables just to get by. And then, on a whim, he applied to become a member of the California Art Club. Most artists apply year after year to become part of this exclusive group, but Scott made it in on the first try. Since then, he’s been a prominent member of the American fine art scene, but he’s become known as the “bad boy of fine art” because he never plays by the rules … in life or in painting. Instead, Scott makes his own rules. “Scott Relishes the Immediate, Take-It-as-It-Is, Gritty Reality of Contemporary Art. There Is a Muscular Directness and a Tough-Guy Feel to His Work.” Over the years Scott has developed his own unique process for capturing the life of urban scenes on canvas. He paints the same streets he grew up on. This process is clear enough to apply on your own, but flexible enough to fit your personal painting style. It’s something that anyone can learn, even if… …you’ve never painted an urban scene before… … or you’ve tried and been overwhelmed in the process. An urban scene is unlike any other. The speed of a city means your scene is constantly changing. No one is sitting still waiting for your paint to dry. There’s an energy infused into the scene by people, cars, and bicycles rushing by… …massive towers of steel and glass rising up from all angles… …an entire palette of colors dancing before your eyes. Painting an urban landscape is an exciting challenge to take on, and there’s a deep satisfaction that comes with capturing these scenes on canvas. Scott Prior has nailed down a process for doing so, but until recently, he’s only taught that process in local classes or in expensive one-on-one lessons (lessons that those who could afford it were happy to pay for). However, we were able to convince Scott to come into our studio and reveal his techniques for painting urban landscapes. And we’re releasing it to you today, in our exclusive new video: Painting the Urban Landscape |
