S1, E41: Artist - Bryan Mark Taylor

Imagine uncovering a world where art and innovation collide in the most unexpected ways. On our latest episode, we sit down with the extraordinary Bryan Mark Taylor, a Utah-based artist whose journey from a sixth-grader studying alongside college students to a celebrated painter and entrepreneur is nothing short of inspiring. Bryan's story is filled with serendipitous connections, such as meeting through a mutual friend at Anthony's, and heartwarming small-world coincidences that add a charming layer to his narrative. 

Bryan's artistic evolution is a vivid tapestry woven with influences ranging from Bob Ross to distinguished Chinese and Russian Impressionists. We dive deep into his diverse techniques, his passion for plein air painting, and the balance he strikes between representational and abstract styles. The episode is peppered with rich anecdotes, including the fascinating tale of a damaged easel in Italy that sparked the creation of a revolutionary, lightweight easel now celebrated worldwide. Bryan’s innovative spirit doesn’t end with painting; his family-owned easel company has grown into a global community, thanks to initiatives like the Strada Challenge.

As we wrap up this episode, we relish in stories of memorable encounters and collaborations, such as a chance meeting with fantasy artist James Christensen that reignited Brian’s passion for imaginative art. We also touch on the launch of Sentient Academy, a groundbreaking online art school making high-quality education accessible to all. From personal travel adventures to innovative business ventures, this episode is packed with inspiration and insights that will uplift any creative soul. Don't miss out on this captivating journey through the vibrant world of art with Bryan Mark Taylor.

Please be sure to like, review, follow, subscribe and share the podcast with your friends and family! See you next time 

https://smalllakecity.buzzsprout.com

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:11

What is up everybody and welcome back to another episode of the Small Lake City Podcast. I'm your host, Eric Nilsen, and this week we are dabbling back into the art community with Utah's favorite three first named artists Mr Brian, Mark Taylor, Now. Brian has had an amazing career. He has studied from so many different people in so many different aspects and has been so scientific about the way that he approaches his artistic pursuit and is always trying something new, going back to different styles, and has actually more recently gone back full circle to his childhood roots. It's kind of an interesting story of how I got introduced to him and how I found out about him and how it was through Micah at Anthony's, but kind of a small world, small Lake City moment of how that all came to be as well.

Speaker 1: 0:57

Such a great down to earth person talked about how he got into art at such an early age, was able to study with people that he called peers but were, I mean college students to him being in sixth grade and then him living in San Francisco for a number of years and then coming back here. So such a unique perspective. Such a great guy Ended up starting his own easel company as well. That's done super well and been very successful. So definitely a great episode and I hope everybody enjoys it. So enjoy me and Brian Mark Taylor's conversation. Enjoy.

Speaker 2: 1:30

You've been on podcasts before Many times, I assumed, as much have you been on podcasts before many times I assumed as much um, have you been on jeff's podcast?

Speaker 1: 1:37

yep, okay, that's one. I've listened to a couple episodes and like that's honestly what got me more, because obviously, talking to john, who, uh, apprenticed under jeff, like he had a lot of great stories and insights, but then it wasn't until, like I mean his podcast, he has everybody on and I've like it's funny to follow his podcast because then I'll find new artists and I'll follow them. And so now I have this like collection of artists that I've been following and which only makes my appetite to paint things more, but then I have less time to paint. It's a, it's a battle. I wish I could have just like two days of my week just dedicated to painting, but yeah, I'll find two hours here and there and it works. That's good. You got to do what you can do. Brian Mark Taylor, the three first names. I feel like when I've talked to people about that we were going to record, I would always get I mean, I think I even did it when I got here like call you Mark Brian Taylor and Brian Mark Taylor. And then when I said it out, he's like it's the three first names, that's it, three first names. It's hard, no matter how you spin it, but I'm excited to have you on.

Speaker 1: 2:36

But it's also such a funny story, and like a small city moment, of how I found out about you, cause I was telling you when I walked in, but I took my mom to Anthony's to go meet Micah, to go see I mean Anthony's in itself and all the amazing things that are in there. And so Micah I mean again like always going through everything and teaching us so much. And then he kind of left us on our own and we kept seeing these still life photos, because even my mom was taken back. She's like I usually don't like still life art, but I really like these. And then we would see your landscapes and she's like oh, I like these too. It's the same person.

Speaker 1: 3:06

So naturally I sprint down and find Micah and bring him up and he's like oh, it's actually a funny story of how I got introduced to Brian because I saw some of his paintings come in and someone said that he was on Alpine. He's like oh, I thought he was in the Bay Area, like in California. And then you guys start talking and he tells me he's like oh, like, where are you from? He's like, oh, I'm from Bountiful. He's like what do you mean? You're from Bountiful, I'm from Bountiful. And then he's like well, when did you go to high school? And you mentioned that your wife went to, uh, viewmont. He had gone to Viewmont. Same ages, uh, just like same places, different. Well, same places, same times, but never really got to know each other super well. So it's funny how that all kind of came together and you were born and raised here, moved to California, came back and now get to be a fun part of this art world of.

Speaker 1: 3:56

Utah and Salt Lake and how unique that is.

Speaker 2: 3:58

Yeah, and it's been a fantastic time getting to know Micah. They do a fantastic job there at Anthony's and it's fun to be a part of that. They're celebrating their 40th anniversary and it's really neat too. Micah's a good friend and and one of the more interesting people you'll ever meet. You know he's got so many different stories about all kinds of objects and histories and things like that. It's it's really a lot of fun.

Speaker 1: 4:25

Yeah, he told me. Actually it was a story he told me after we recorded when we were leaving. Edison. He's like oh, he's like I'll, maybe I'll come back and tell you. But he's like I'll, maybe I'll come back and tell you. But he's like there's one time I was flying into um, uh, I mean, I had to be in spain. If to spain, and like, if anybody who knows mike I know he's he's a yerba mate enthusiast, to say the least yeah, and so he says I landed in spain. There's this um yerba place I was going to go to and I walk in and I'm waiting in line and this guy kind of just starts talking to me and we start talking. He's like oh well, how do you know Spanish? He's like I went on an LDS mission, but now I've been studying in London and I spent a ton of time in Spain. I've been writing a book on Sorolla, like so many things, and they end up talking for like an hour and a half about.

Speaker 2: 5:08

I mean just everything and everything Just a typical Micah conversation.

Speaker 1: 5:11

Right yeah, micah conversation right, yeah.

Speaker 1: 5:12

And then so this guy's like, hey, I gotta take off, but nice to meet. You, have a good trip. Um, see you around, maybe I don't know. And the micah goes up to like, pay her to leave. And the guy's like, um, how do you know lionel? He's like what do you mean? He's like that was lionel messi. How did you know? Like, do you know him? He's like no, but who is that? He's like how do you not know who lionel messi is? And so, just literally, was sitting around in this Yerba Mata place talking with Lionel Messi. He had no idea who he was.

Speaker 2: 5:37

Holy cow.

Speaker 1: 5:37

So in typical Micah fashion. How did you originally meet, micah?

Speaker 2: 5:43

Well, it's basically through a podcast. Okay, we discovered that story you just told about us meeting was through his podcast.

Speaker 1: 5:53

Okay.

Speaker 2: 5:53

And so we kind of discovered it right on air, which was kind of fun.

Speaker 1: 5:57

Oh, that's hilarious.

Speaker 2: 5:59

We have this kind of common history where we're both from Bountiful and all this.

Speaker 1: 6:03

It's interesting and I've said this before many times but Small Lake City is a joke in Utah in general and especially Salt Lake. But once you have a podcast called that and you chase that energy, it's amazing. The stories that I like or just the, the connections that ended up popping up naturally. So that's so fun that you guys could have that. But I mean I know that you are, I mean, like we said, I mean born and raised here, moved to California and came back. But maybe start from the beginning of I mean growing up here and how I mean you found your passion for art and maybe it was. It was after that, but we'd love to hear, kind of how you found a brush in hand and found that passion.

Speaker 2: 6:36

Yeah, so I mean, it happened really early for me. When I was eight, I asked for an oil painting set for Christmas.

Speaker 1: 6:48

Normal thing for an eight-year-old to ask for Christmas? Yeah, exactly right.

Speaker 2: 6:50

You know, and I, you know part of it have to credit uh bob ross for that. You know that's discovered. You know, between two different channels. You know we only had a couple channels back then, right, and so, uh, I think it was probably switching between cartoons or something like that, and I'd see this painting and it just captivated me, you know just staring there's.

Speaker 1: 7:11

I'd imagine this eight year old staring watching bob ross yeah, your parents are like wait what? What's he doing? Like do you want to join in? You're like, I can do that.

Speaker 2: 7:20

Well, and it's interesting because I was already drawing before I kind of introduced to this whole, you know, oil painting thing, but that's that's my journey of oil painting, but I was drawing even before that time, you know. So it's very obviously a lot of kids, you know, they start drawing when they're you know, almost every kid during us, right. It's just the interesting thing is those that keep doing it past. You know, those kind of teenage years. A lot of people you know usually give up around sixth grade, but it's those that kind of still find something in it that really captivates them, and that was certainly my case, that it just kept growing and growing.

Speaker 2: 7:59

Like in third grade there was a session where they had all the third graders go in a room together all do a drawing, and then they selected just a few kids to have, like this extracurricular art class, and so I was one of those kids that was selected and so that was kind of my first foray into art.

Speaker 2: 8:23

I guess they recognize some talent that I may have had, even though I had no zero training and I just fell in love with it and just kept going. And so by the time I was in sixth grade I started taking classes down in Salt Lake twice a week. It was kind of a serious art courses where I was with college students, wow, and I just really kind of started to take off, just loved minute of it. It was just fantastic so and I was and I was actually learning things like figure drawing and also abstract drawing, conceptual kind of art, although I didn't fully, obviously, understand that. You know what it meant, but the the person that was running that Academy, was really trying to kind of push me into a certain direction. Sadly, all those drawings that I had that I did during those couple years at that Academy, you have to sign something where they can keep them that's's so.

Speaker 1: 9:35

Imagine looking yourself in the mirror and being like I stole drawings and artists from a sixth grader. It's like. It's like the art equivalent of stealing candy from a baby.

Speaker 2: 9:44

I know, cause it's, it's literally. I have like maybe 200 drawings of that. That period of time. That I'll, you know, I'll never see, unfortunately, but I do remember, you know, experiences with them in certain kind of aha moments and you know, I remember trying to tackle a staircase and trying to get the perspective right on that and, um, you know, those are, those are. You know, as an eight-year-old, they're really kind of eye-opening moments. Uh, and I, yeah, I just wish I had that, that history, a little piece of history, back. I I've I've tried to track down, but anyway, somebody has got a bunch of uh.

Speaker 1: 10:24

If you have Brian's drawings and you're holding them ransom, I'd like to talk. Right and I like and it's interesting too, cause, like I think about I mean from your parents' perspective, I mean as a parent there's always the joke of like, oh, my kid came to me with their like math homework and like, don't know what I'm doing. But I can't imagine like my child coming to me and being like, well, how's my like values here? Like, do you think this is too saturated? Or how's my composition?

Speaker 2: 10:56

And being like nope, nope thing. Because what was your parents background? So my dad's a dermatologist, okay, yep, that my mom's a professional mom and so, um, and, and they both have been supportive, you know, to the endeavor that I mean. When I I told them I wanted to be, I wanted to be an artist. When I grew up, basically at eight, yeah, I was like this is what I really want to do. And so they did find me that school in in salt lake and that that's what kind of started, so that basically, it was a school after school, right, it was, you know, but it was, you know, twice a week. So you'd go and spend several hours, uh, you know, twice a week and, um, you know, a real deep dive into art, yeah, awesome, and like and like.

Speaker 1: 11:31

I mean I talked with Howard like, honestly, a lot of similar things, because he grew up I mean like most drawing, but then he kind of talked about the time where I mean a lot of the kids stopped drawing, they started going and like playing sports, I mean whatever they get kind of I mean pressured into as kids, because that's just kind of the gravitational pull of it all. And then he similarly went to his parents like hey, I want to draw, I want to do this. Hey, I want to draw, I want to do this, and like here's everything you need that we want to support you want to do this. I mean especially to have someone at such a young age be so passionate about something. Like imagine the parent being like you're going to go to law school actually. Like no, thank you, and it's nice to have that. I mean support to go to the class and have people who are better than you try to I mean teach you and like have such interesting peers. Uh, cause, like my I mean quote art.

Speaker 1: 12:15

During like that same years I remember I'll never forget this there was a seventh grade art class, miss Owen, at Clayton middle school. She's like we need to paint a mountain. So what do I do? I draw a triangle and I'm like here it is. She's like look out the window, do you see that? I'm like well, no, but like this is what you do. And like no one ever tried and I mean kind of like we were talking about when I was setting up is when I first started painting, in like adulthood, like I was trying. I see values, I see colors, I'm making shapes, I'm understanding all of this. And it really is interesting because I talked to friends and they're like oh, like I suck at painting, like I'm not an artist or I'm not creative.

Speaker 1: 12:49

I'm like you fundamentally need to find something to question all of those things you just said, because if you can, you will realize how invincible of a person you are and how you can learn things and you're so much better than you think you could be Absolutely, and I also love that and, like in this, the kind of you're alluding to is, I mean you had your childhood drawings and then you're like, oh well, there's some abstract things I'm trying to learn, like trying to draw and paint stairs, and I feel like you got a really good background of painting and drawing all sorts of things. But I mean now I mean we know that you landed a lot on still life and landscape, but I mean, how was that journey to find?

Speaker 2: 13:54

that, yeah. So that's a great question. So I also studied with an artist here in Utah who was very well known. His name was Harold DeMont Olson. He's a landscape painter, but I have to back up just a little bit. My interest really during that time was a lot in conceptual or science fiction, fantasy kind of thing. I'm a Star Wars kid, grew up with that and I- Again sounds like Howard.

Speaker 2: 14:23

Oh yeah, exactly yeah, I think you know it's amazing the impact of those films had on all of us. You know creative types and I think that my initial love was doing those kinds of things, inventing things, and it's interesting. I've kind of come full circle because I do have a whole range of things that I've done science, science fiction, kind of imaginative realism type work as well. You didn't see that at Micah's place, cause I, I, I show that other other places and I've done some work for Brandon Sanderson oh, really interesting, cool yeah. So that's been a lot of fun, and some other authors, uh, which has been kind of a fun side project.

Speaker 1: 15:03

So yeah, interesting.

Speaker 2: 15:05

So, anyway, that that was my initial love, was like fantasy, science fiction, you know, storytelling type art, and that's what kind of drove me in those early years. But so there's lots of different threads in my life and that was one of them. But I met Harold Olson and we I started painting landscapes, uh, and he was uh kind of a big influence of that early on. That's what he um loved to do and and I uh started to absorb some of the things that he knew about all of that. So he, he was kind of a contemporary of Arnold Freeberg, you know, and and both of them were kind of the some of the big, bigger artists during that time period. And you know, I studied with him for about three years and I learned mostly with watercolor during that time.

Speaker 2: 16:00

So this is after school, so this is in high school, so this is after I took these lessons in Salt Lake. That was more grade school. So I always had something, somebody that I was studying with all through my formative years. So I've always had these private lessons. So I had lots of hours of practice and work just before I went to college. Wow, so I was able to kind of hit the ground running in college, but I did. I went to B, wow, so I was able to kind of hit the ground running in in college, but I did.

Speaker 2: 16:29

I went to BYU, okay, but I butted heads a little bit with the, with the faculty. There again there's this kind of push towards conceptual art and and I was more of into that storytelling. I just I still don't know to this day why I didn't go into illustration instead, because it would have been more of a natural fit for me, interesting, but there's something about the conceptual aspect of it, the why of painting, the why of creating art, that made me stick with the fine art side, instead of going into more of the narrative of illustration, to more of the narrative of illustration. And so I guess there's a part of the abstraction that's always been, even from eight years old, that has been an interest of mine and so you'll see in my work it is representational, but it's also definitely up close.

Speaker 1: 17:19

It has an abstraction to it and I found that the joy in my life of painting is the abstraction, not the representation aspects of the work and that was one thing that again, I remember this so well from being at Anthony's and I can't remember the exact painting, but I can see it on the wall, but again, because like you look at your like and I can take a step back. So when I was at John's studio once he's like well, the nice thing about art is it when you have a different experience from three feet away, 10 feet away and 30 feet away and like so a lot of years. I mean, if you take a step back from 30 feet it looks very traditional, fine art, very traditional. I don't want to say like simple, but just like what you'd expect from a fine art piece. But then when you do get close, your marks are very like more abstract and you do see a lot more of that detail.

Speaker 1: 18:07

In that painting that I saw at Anthony's which was, I think there was like a river but there's at least this shadowy tree with, like either a barn or something behind it and like that's. When I like got close I was like, oh, like these marks are so interesting because they seem so almost like broad, but the detail it has has, especially when you change your perspective, is such a different experience. So I see what you mean in like having that, yes, having that finer appreciation, but at the end of the day, having your kind of signature abstract when you look at the details yeah.

Speaker 2: 18:35

So make sure that you know I want I have my handwriting all over the all over the painting, and so there's the strokes are unique to me in the way I see things, the way my hand, the gesture, all of that is really important to me that it reads on that level. Most people, I think, would just enjoy the painting more as stepping back and seeing the painting, seeing the painting. But for me it's so much about these abstract elements, about movement, about brushstroke, the way you lay it, on the fast nature of it, or there's a certain speed to the way I paint, that I have to have this kind of alla prima method. For those who don't know what is it, yeah, alla prima means to the first. It's an Italian phrase and it basically means everything's all wet and wet and it's created in kind of a single session, and so a lot of my work is done that way, especially my smaller work. It's all done on location, which is kind of plein air. Yeah, I was going to say you're a big plein air guy?

Speaker 1: 19:41

Yes, because you just said I was going to go, but then I had something come up I think I was actually recording an episode that I know you hosted I can't remember if you and Howard did it together, but Howard was there that you did at Alpine Park just like a plein air morning with people. Oh sure, yeah, and I've been talking with John and we want to go on a hike and go plein air painting, but it's now almost the beginning of July and we haven't done it yet. So hopefully, but yeah, I mean I love that there's that planar aspect of things, like the very quick side of things, because I can't paint quickly, like I always have to sit and think and come back a lot, and that's why I'm envious of that.

Speaker 2: 20:10

Um, yeah it's, it's a discipline for sure too, and it's kind of like a uh, like a jazz musician or somebody that's like a virtuoso violinist, where you you just play on the fly kind of, and that's what you're trying to do. That I mean, that's the years of study that you go outdoors to do to be able to just kind of shoot from the hip you know, and not everything's planned out and and you, it's not like there's you've gridded things out or anything like that.

Speaker 2: 20:36

you just kind of work with the, the piece, the lights changing, things are moving, um, and and that's, that's kind of the magic of it when it, when it all comes together.

Speaker 2: 20:48

So, kind of moving into that, maybe, talk a little bit about the background of how I got there was, you know, I went to BYU, we, you know, I I studied some of the kind of formal elements of art, a little bit of abstraction, also, uh, representation. I would go off campus and study like the nude figure, you know, to get that extra work and which was really valuable for me. But I found that I needed to have a little bit more of a nuts and bolts type of school experience, and so BYU was kind of just a little bit of a springboard. But the major work that I got in the instruction was in san francisco, the academy of art university, and that was where um especially studying with some chinese uh artists, uh, just really excellent masters, uh hui han lu or xiaoming wu um, and also there's, uh, some some other artists that you know grew up around in the illustration field, like Bill Maughan he actually lives.

Speaker 1: 21:49

Yeah, I was going to say Do you know Bill? I don't know him yet, but he's come up on a couple episodes, yeah.

Speaker 2: 21:55

Okay. So yeah, bill has. You know he was the director for fine arts at the Academy of Art University in San Francisco and he's now retired, but it was great to work with him as well, so it's important, I think, to mention him as well. It's kind of fun that he's here close, yeah, but I gained a lot from my time there at the Academy of Art and I really especially I talked about, you know, these Chinese artists, because they had this kind of way of moving their brush. There's a little bit of a calligraphy kind of work.

Speaker 1: 22:35

And it's like Eastern art and Western art are well kind of. Asian art and European art are very different things, and European art gets a lot of the credit. But then there's also this whole thing going on over here and like again, like there's this calligraphy, because they're well, they're I mean, written language, is art in itself, of what characters, and so that bleeds into it. But there's all a lot more traditional elements, so and so. So, like it's so interesting that you got that side of training where usually you hear so much of the other.

Speaker 2: 23:10

Yes, yeah, and it, and, and I was captivated by their. It wasn't impressionism in the sense where every stroke was similar, like a Monet sort of painting, where the brushstroke didn't necessarily have all this character to it. But as impressionism moved to Russia and then from Russia to China, it it kind of went kind of around the world. And then it comes to San Francisco. It's interesting how that has evolved. And then you know, it's been in my hands.

Speaker 1: 23:36

Like a game of art telephone. Yeah, yeah, just a little bit, a little bit.

Speaker 2: 23:40

And it gets modified, it changes every time. You know, like I'm kind of uh, you know I'm, I'm part of that lineage.

Speaker 2: 23:54

You know that came from those uh, from france to russia to china, to kind of the us, yeah and uh, and you know it's changed every single time when it's done that. So that that's been kind of a fun thing. And I've been back to china, you know four or five times where I've I've been with you. These artists are good friends of mine, things like that, and so that's been kind of a fun part of my life. You know, so that Academy of Art really emphasized painting and drawing from life and I really it just everything changed for me when it was all about painting and drawing from life.

Speaker 2: 24:27

And there's this, you know this strong plein air. So there's plein air artists as well, like Edgar Payne, william Wendt, guy Rose, you name it. There's all these great artists here in Utah. There was I'm going to draw a blank here, it'll come to me in a second but there were a couple of artists here that were influenced by things that were going on in California or back East in terms of the Impressionists, and that's where I realized that Harold Olson was kind of part of that tradition a little bit. So I got a little bit from him, but it was different than what I got in California.

Speaker 1: 25:12

So I love how you have so much. You have so much instruction and influence from so many different backgrounds. Yes, totally.

Speaker 2: 25:20

And so and I don't think anybody's ever really said you look like so-and-so or you look like in a lot of ways, because I've had so many influences in a lot of ways, um, because I've I've had so much, so many influences, I never let one kind of dominate my world. Uh, even during that time of, uh, the academy of art, before I went there, I was introduced to richard schmidt and his work and and, uh, his book alla prima, and that you know had a big influence when I went into school, uh, you know his, his work and just you know, studying his books and things like that. So, and you know he was a strong advocate of a la prima work and you know, painting from and drawing from life, so all those kinds of there's all these kinds of threads that kind of came into my work during that time. And also during that time I still had this abstraction and I'd say probably the most influential abstract artists for me have been Richard Diebenkorn and Wayne Thiebaud and, interestingly enough, just kind of an aside aside, wayne tebow bought one of my pieces here he is here, he's 98 years old, wow.

Speaker 2: 26:37

Comes into the gallery and likes one of the pieces I have. It's kind of abstract, kind of, uh, yeah, representational, and he just loved that, that line, you know, and so that was just kind of really a fun thing to have somebody that I, you know, is an art legend, yeah right, it's like, it's like elvis buying one of your paintings exactly like the comfort circle.

Speaker 1: 26:57

You're like, I would love to sell you this painting. Don't mind my tears coming down my face as I'm so proud of myself and you know it's, it was.

Speaker 2: 27:06

It was one of those. I wasn't there to see it, unfortunately, um. The gallery called me up though and just said I'm going to send you a picture of the check just to show you that wayne tevo bought it. You know, wow, that's how excited they were too yeah about it.

Speaker 2: 27:19

That's one that they do yeah, yeah, so, um, anyway, that's, that's just kind of a fun side note, but you know, wayne and adib and cord, they've they've been some of those artists where if I get too representational or too illustrative or whatever, that kind of always snaps me back into that abstraction. And also there's some things about the way they divide space. That has always been something I, something I've enjoyed and that's why I I really into cityscape painting. Uh, and I've, uh, I've done that quite a bit. That's one of the things I'm known for is is is painting cityscapes, and there's a geometry there that's really interesting.

Speaker 1: 28:03

There's that intimidates me, cause so like, when I paint I'm a terrible drawer and which it's very backwards, and I need to work on drawing and I know it, but I don't, and so I usually very rough, and then I have to iterate as I paint, which is obviously not the best way to do it, and like strong geometry is always very intimidating to me.

Speaker 1: 28:22

So the thought of I mean even in your studio, the New York one you're working on like the thought of, like seeing like the new world traits and all these and trying to make it work, like I felt my anxiety get a little bit higher, but again, at the same time, like it's such a unique thing from compared to like a lot of your other landscapes, a lot of your other um, uh, more still life things, it's. It's it's interesting to see like the, the quiver of different types of paintings that you have and you enjoy it all. But then I also like that you have this like check system. You're like hey, whoa, whoa, whoa, too representational. We got to be a little more abstract and I'm sure there's some sort of pullback from the abstract to the representational that you have as well. So I like that you keep yourself grounded, but then also know that it all is kind of like this hodgepodge of experiences that you've had that influences everything, to give you your own kind of like stamp of uniqueness, uniqueness.

Speaker 2: 29:06

Well, and I do maybe a wider range of paintings than many artists do. I do have quite a broad range, and maybe too broad in some.

Speaker 1: 29:16

you know, I don't know, maybe that's the best part about painting and art is there are no rules. You do whatever you want.

Speaker 2: 29:20

I have a lot of different threads, you know, and wear some different hats, but I think I need that, though. You know, some artists are just more. I'm a, I'm kind of a searcher, I uh, there's I, I kind of some. Some artists approach art more like a religion, like this is the one true way to paint, you know, and kind of stick with it Like the purists of it yeah.

Speaker 2: 29:43

Yeah, um, and then there's I'm more of like a scientist, where it's like, well, let me try that, let me experiment with that, take that to a certain conclusion and just see where that takes me. And then, once I've done that, then I'll try another line, another approach. And so, even though I'm in this kind of representational, abstract, representational sort of vein, I have tried a lot of different things in a lot of different ways. Like, you know, what if I do it thick here? What if I have an underpainting? What if I don't have any underpainting? What if I use this surface? What if I use this type of brush or whatever?

Speaker 2: 30:25

So there's a lot of what if I use, you know, totally change my palette? What if I limit the colors? And so everything that I've just mentioned here. I've spent a year or two on and just going down that road and saying what if? You know, yeah, alive and interesting for me to, to continue to experiment and to, um, you know, shift things around and try new subjects. And, uh, you know, like recently I have done, you know I started getting into the winter. You know I didn't paint the winter much.

Speaker 2: 31:02

You know I was in california and so no, one's there no, not much of a winter there, but, um, I've really been getting into into snow and snow paintings like this this past uh winter and or past two winters, and so it's just very limited palette, very, you know, kind of a basic color, uh, but but those relationships of uh value, so I've just been exploring certain things with that, so that's just what you do.

Speaker 1: 31:28

I think I've done. Do you do your winter landscapes, plein air.

Speaker 2: 31:31

Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 1: 31:32

While I can.

Speaker 2: 31:33

Yeah. So and then I've I just discovered the how much I actually love it, you know. And at first it was like I want to go out there in the cold, and you know I would. I, you know, for years I didn't do it, even when I moved back here to Utah it. But then all of a sudden it just like I'm going to do it, I'm going to go out and do it. So I go out there and it's just this transformative experience. It's like so quiet and peaceful and it just made my January so wonderful. So you know, I'm going to be doing that for probably many years to come.

Speaker 1: 32:04

I mean, and it's half the like the, because I mean obviously there's like the joke of I mean utah is like everyone's a landscape artist, but then like yeah, go outside, no wonder, everyone's a landscape artist. And if you only take in half of the year of like the, the good months when they go with the others, then you're missing half of the coin. Yes, um, so I love that you were brave and and did it because I still probably wouldn't. I'd be like how, how do I paint with gloves on this work?

Speaker 2: 32:31

Yeah, you know, and, and you get the right gear and you're okay. You know, even when it's freezing out there, you're, you're, you're just fine. As long as you know, you just had to dial into the right gear and it helps. You know, I ski too. So you know, throw on your your ski gear and you're good to go.

Speaker 1: 32:47

Yeah, um so I love so. Obviously. You were in San Francisco I mean Bay area for a good amount of time. I mean how long were you there in total before you ended up moving back 15 years before we?

Speaker 2: 32:56

moved back. So, uh, there was, you know, significant amount of time, and I during that time there were only a few handful of plein air events. So people that don't know what plein air is. It means, you know, painting outdoors, painting. People that don't know what plein air is it means painting outdoors, painting from nature outdoors, which was first popularized by the French Impressionists, and so that's why we use that French term, plein air, which means open air. But in California there's a strong tradition of plein air Obviously, the weather is beautiful there, and there were some artist colonies that were set up, one in Carmel, also down in Laguna Beach and so I started doing some of these plein air competitions. And this is when there were only a few of them. And now there's one in every state, and even here in Utah there's like three or four Of course, one in every state. And you know, even here in utah there's like three or four of course. Now you know. So, uh, there it's all over the place.

Speaker 1: 33:53

And now there's plein air magazine, there's plein air convention, there's, yeah, people are doing it you know it's like, uh, it's, it's becoming like the new golf, you know it's almost like, uh, if so, if painting, like traditional painting, is to running, I feel like plein air is like the trail running version, where you're like, oh, I want to get out and actually get in the middle of everything. Or mountain biking, exactly, exactly, right, and it's, and it's so fun to see because, like one thing. And let's go back to golf, for example, like if I want to go, like if usually, if I travel, I always have my golf clubs with me I want to go see something trip specifically, because I do want to go plein air painting in italy, france, spain, like whatever that might be.

Speaker 1: 34:35

You can add it to and maybe you, that's what you do if you're on a family vacation, like, hey, everybody, go to the beach, I'm gonna go that's what I do, but like I get it, like I honestly am envious of that because there's so many cool, beautiful things that you can paint, and so I'm curious of like, when you were in California, were you mostly spending a lot of time, I mean doing plein air paintings in that kind of general area, or are you also traveling a lot and kind of wherever you wanted to go?

Speaker 2: 34:58

Well, yeah, I mean, at first you know you're poor college students, you're not going too far, although I did serve an LDS mission in Italy, so there's always had this connection with Italy and I've been back many times. It's like a second home, definitely for me. I love Europe and and so it's, it's, it has had a great influence on me. To talk about another thread, I mean there's there's so many threads, that of inspiration, that that I can look back at. But I got the truck.

Speaker 2: 35:29

Know I have this serious travel bug. You know, I, I, I have to travel. You know, like once a month I have to go somewhere and I just got back from India and that's my second time there Um been. You know, like I said, I've been to China a bunch of times and you know, when Cuba opened for the U? S citizens, I was down there, you know.

Speaker 2: 35:45

So I I try and get around and see is. You know that's my goal is see every part of the earth I possibly can. I'm super envious of David Attenborough because he has seen more of the planet than any other human. I think, oh, totally, and I think that is the ultimate rich, wonderful life is to be able to experience that Now I haven't been out in the wild as much as he has is to be able to experience that. Now I haven't been out in the wild as much as he has.

Speaker 2: 36:14

I do have an interest in the wild, but I have a really strong interest in cultures and in cities and things like that around the world. So that's one of the things I've really focused on is is, you know, to see how people live and have developed their cultures, current and ancient, and so I have spent a lot of times, you know, seeing old temples and things like that all over the world and also, um, you know, just enjoying the food and the people and and, uh, the cityscapes and things like that and the busyness. Uh, that's, you know, like that's india.

Speaker 1: 36:44

Yeah you know, all the people and I'm sure it's fun, like that's got to be such an interesting um souvenir. You're like, well, someone's like, oh yeah, I was india. You're like, yeah, pretty good, like this is. This, is what this is I decided to paint.

Speaker 2: 36:57

It was amazing yeah, absolutely, and I, I love that when I go travel to a place. I mean, that's been my biggest muse really. You know, in my, you know, in my adult artistic career Again, I started younger when I was interested in, you know, science fiction, fantasy, sort of things. Then I moved into landscapes and then, you know, traveling around and with plein air, and you know, that became my muse, you know, just being out and it's like pages in a journal, like each, each painting that I do is like, you know, this is where I was, this is what I experienced, this is what I felt, you know, and it's kind of fun to go back through the years and like, oh yeah, that's when we went to, you know, france, or you know that's where we went to. Whatever, you know.

Speaker 1: 37:45

And then like, even like layers on top of itself. Another level because, again, like you're so experimental in your painting, it's interesting to go back and be like oh, I know my travel history but also I can see all my my changes in style, the experiences, like the experiments that I was going through, to land kind of where I am now. It's like it's gotta be the most interesting journal ever.

Speaker 2: 38:04

Yeah, yeah, and and you know I need to, I need to start kind of putting that together because, um, you know there's so many paintings that I've done and, um, that I haven't cataloged necessarily, and so you know that's important, that that'll be important things. You know I hate to have my kids try and untangle all of this because it's like, oh, when did he go to Cambodia? Oh, I can't remember, you know. Yeah, so, um, I need to make sure and do that, you know, because you have thousands and thousands of photos too that I take and that I've been to some really interesting places that, like just this last trip with India, we were able to go see an old tribe, the Toda tribe, and some of their structures are just really unique and interesting and to be able to go out and meet some of these people even the people are from India, my guides, they couldn't speak their language either, it was.

Speaker 2: 38:59

It was just kind of neat to go see that's kind of these a little bit more primal type of lifestyle and see the structures they built and kind of the art they created. They, you know, and the religion that they had was kind of based around the, a bison and just, you know the, that animal and and kind of the things, the relationship they had with it. So, um, if I can keep doing that the rest of my life, that's it's going to be. It's going to be a good life. That's what I want. To continue to travel, continue to, uh, you, continue to, uh, you know.

Speaker 2: 39:34

I don't do these plein air competitions anymore. I did about a hundred of them, you know, over a 10 year period. So that's kind of like iron chef, where you, you go, they stamp all your canvases and then you just paint like crazy and then the end of the week you have a show, and so that's kind of where I cut my teeth, met a lot of artists along the way doing all of that. Um, I kind of retired from that. I got kind of burnt out and so now I just plan these kind of trips that I mostly me and maybe one other artist goes on. That's the right to do it. That's kind of um, because it's hard, the more people you add to. I mean there's a you know the funny saying, you know, the the fun of a trip is is inversely proportional to how many people you enjoy you invite on that trip, Right, you know, I tend to like to have, you know, fewer people, cause then it can just be more limber and we can kind of, you know, I like to go, go, go.

Speaker 1: 40:23

I mean, especially if you're trying to, I mean, see as much as you can, paint as much as you can, then it's like all right, like let's like go, yeah, and it's a dawn till dusk sort of thing.

Speaker 2: 40:32

It's not like sipping, you know, your drink and and just kind of kicking back. Yeah, for me I think it's a work trip. Yeah, no, but that's how I love it, you know yeah it's, it's intense, right.

Speaker 2: 40:44

So that's uh, how you know, during one of these trips, I was in italy. Actually, this is uh. You know, during one of these trips, I was in italy. Actually, this is uh. 13, 14 years ago, my easel fell apart, oh no, uh, and part of it got crunched in. Uh, tsa, you know, of course, drop kicking the bags or whatever, and, uh, that's when I decided I needed to have something like bulletproof, you know. And that's where I started thinking about designing my own thing, cause I didn't see anything out there that could, like, really withstand the test of time. And so um started prototyping, and I actually wasn't thinking of this in terms of a business.

Speaker 1: 41:22

It really you just wanted to have something that TSA couldn't mess up.

Speaker 2: 41:24

Yes, and uh started working on it in my uh. My dad had a kind of a wood shop in the basement over Christmas While I was in college and visiting. I just started working on this kind of prototype. But then I was like you know, this can't be in wood, it's got to be in something different. And this was when Steve Jobs was kind of at the height of his power. I think he was even. Maybe he had cancer at that point. And the biography came out and I read that and it was like, oh man, I need to make this out of aluminum, it needs to be like a laptop, and so that's kind of where Strato was. Like you know, birth yeah, it was this idea like, oh no, it needs to be made out of metal, because then it can be lightweight, it can be strong and then it can be durable.

Speaker 2: 42:09

Yeah, makes sense completely so that's, that's uh kind of where that whole thing came from, but it was wait.

Speaker 1: 42:15

One quick question on the plein air trips. So if you're again, it's you and another artist, you're in italy or it's with just my family, like my wife and kids.

Speaker 2: 42:24

They would go, my wife would entertain them, they would be out in the field or whatever while I'd go paint and they. It was great because when they were younger they were totally satisfied. It was just like hanging out in a olive grove or something like that while I painted.

Speaker 1: 42:37

That's so fun.

Speaker 2: 42:39

Now it's, that's a little tougher to do, yeah, so I got a lot of these trips are at least me just going off by myself, or you know.

Speaker 1: 42:51

So on, like a typical day, like that. I mean, how many paintings are you doing? Because obviously, if you're um well, I forgot the term all prima all prima all prima and like quick, then imagine there's not just like one painting all day yeah.

Speaker 2: 43:02

So I mean I've I'm slower now actually. Okay, then I was I, because I have certain things that I'm after and so I'm more thoughtful, methodical. But there were times where you do four a day, just four a day every day, and you do two in the morning, then take a nap just to recharge, and then you break your day in half, right, yeah, and the sun is boring during the middle of the day, and then you'd, you like, break your day in half right and then, and and the Sun is, you know, it's boring during the middle of the day, and then you'd come right back out around five o'clock and then, you know, do two more paintings. That's a pain till dark. So that's that's kind of the pattern that I had for for many years now. I would you know, on a, it would be more one a morning, one an evening. But I'm more thoughtful, more selective. Anyway, it's yeah, because I feel like I've done the volume and I'm not.

Speaker 2: 43:59

I'm good. I'm more about just yeah certain things, so more selective and more picky about all of that, I mean, definitely makes sense.

Speaker 1: 44:09

So yeah, going back to the strata, so you, I mean, obviously have this idea and obviously you can't be the only artist struggling with finding some sort of easel that you can take with you everywhere it can be, I mean something you can use in your studio, at home, it can be something that you take up a mountain or through TSA and and be bulletproof. Um and so you had this idea for yourself, but at what point were you like bulletproof? And so you had this idea for yourself, but at what point were you like, I think, there's a couple other people that might be interested in this.

Speaker 2: 44:37

Yeah Well, it's interesting how it happened, and it happened actually fairly quickly, because so there was a first plein air convention, and this was in Vegas back in, oh gosh, 2012, 13, something like that and so I had the easel that I made and I actually went to a. I had it designed in plastic first because then I could make it, and then I, you know, talked with a guy like, hey, can you do actually design this and can you do this in folded metal, because it's kind of ultimately how I want it to be done and finally convinced this guy, this manufacturer, to do it. And they're like who are you? Like? You know, and you know, and I don't even know how I could.

Speaker 2: 45:19

It took a while. I kept bugging him for months because it's like, well, you're not, you're not a serious business or anything, you're, you know, and I wasn't, but you know, I just was super persistent about it. And finally this prototype came, was mailed to me the day before I was going to do a demonstration at this convention Interesting, so I was able to. I had this new, the kind of shiny new easel, and it debuted it right there at this, at this convention, and that's when people like what is this? Yeah, I've seen this, I've seen it like literally got it yesterday.

Speaker 1: 45:58

Yeah, this is the first time I've used it it is.

Speaker 2: 46:00

Yeah, I really. The first time I used it was was in the demo. So, um, that's when people start asking, well, are you going to make more of these and stuff? And and so, um, we, I, I started, we did a batch of 50 to see you know what happened. And I remember the first, when I first, like, announced that, hey, we're going to be selling these just on Facebook, right, A lady called, or text, or um, made some comments like I don't know, this, this metal box, this, the only thing this seems to be good for is warming tortillas or something like that.

Speaker 2: 46:35

That was the comment they made, you know. So that's, it was just, it was it? Nobody ever seen anything like it, Right? Uh, and so I wrote back and I said, um, well, if you order it, I'll, I'll throw in some oven mitts, and that person did so. We started, you know, just slowly. A couple of people were willing to take a chance on it and it had. You know, I had some problems and issues and and I'm, but I'm grateful there was enough people in that first order of 50. And that was. It was a lot of money for me to put out for, because when you make a product that's very small, like a small edition of it, it's extremely expensive, yeah, and so, and you know, I this is all kind of a self-funded, you know, leap in the dark.

Speaker 1: 47:22

Yeah, you don't know what's going to happen. Yeah, you have no idea.

Speaker 2: 47:24

Yeah, exactly yeah exactly, yeah, exactly, and and so, anyway, it went well enough that I could make some changes and then put in another order, and so just slowly down the road. This is that's kind of how it all started.

Speaker 1: 47:39

But I just imagine this conversation later. We're like hey, manufacturing guy, remember when you said I wasn't a serious businessman? Here's my new order. Yeah, gonna say no now. Didn't think so.

Speaker 2: 47:48

Yeah, totally yeah, totally so. Um, you know, and now we've, we let's see, it was last year, the year before we celebrated our 10th anniversary, cool congrats, and so things have been really well. It's really fun, gratifying to see that people all over the world have, uh, they're, using it and, um, you know, it's been on every continent pretty much besides Antarctica. That's the only one where we're trying to get somebody to go down there. Maybe that's what I need to do and just so we can claim that the easel's been on, you know, every part of planet Earth. But one thing that's been really fun with just the easel company, which, by the way, my wife is pretty much running the whole thing. At this point I do a few things, but mostly she's been invaluable for all this help and obviously you saw that the assembly line has been involved and things like that.

Speaker 2: 48:47

It's nice, it's a family business, which has been really fun.

Speaker 2: 48:53

But one of the things that we uh, one of the things that um, in this, in this process, we have uh invited you know kind of people uh, to have this.

Speaker 2: 49:07

You know, it's almost like a training group. It's like, uh, it's like if everybody were doing a marathon together and I call it the strata challenge, and we've been doing this for about 10 years now, where people paint or draw from life 30 days in a row, and so you have to do it 30 days in a row. And if you do it 30 days in a row and you have to post it every day on social media if you do that, then you get entered to. You have to post it every day on social media. If you do that, then you get entered to win one of the one of five easels that we give away. So we've been doing this for for many years now and it's really been fun because we have this big group now that is all dedicated in doing it. They're doing it all over the world and, um, in fact, I was in india and met uh two of the artists that did it interesting one of them that actually won an easel.

Speaker 2: 49:50

So and that was exciting to you know, talk to him.

Speaker 1: 49:55

And I don't know if it's happened, but it's gotta be gratifying in case. You're like traveling somewhere in the world. You're going to like a popular-ish location where people usually paint and you're getting set up and all of a sudden you look over and they're like there's one of my easels set up right next to me. Yeah, it's always.

Speaker 2: 50:11

It's always gratifying to see it in the wild and it's fun when you know my parents or somebody else you know. Hey, I, you know, send me a picture, you know when they, when they see one in the wild. That's, that's always fun. But I love seeing them get used and just the artwork that gets created. So, just in like, in a given you know challenge that we do, between 30 and 50,000 works of art are done in a month. Wow, that's pretty cool.

Speaker 1: 50:36

I mean, just alone to inspire people to go paint like 30 to 50,000 paintings is amazing in itself, yeah, and to do that for 10 years over time, that's, that's a lot of work.

Speaker 2: 50:45

That's a lot of work, yeah, and so we have a Facebook group and stuff like that, and what we do is we keep track of everybody too during the challenge, because we want to make sure everybody's honest about you know they've done it every single day.

Speaker 2: 50:59

So we always check and make sure and that's just part of it, just to keep it as fair as we can, because we know people work hard to do this right. Want, because we know people work hard to do this right. And it's really cool to hear that some people have gone, gotten through cancer during that time, or they've gone through some sort of struggle. Or you know, there's two people, like a mother and uh son, who that's how they're connecting across the world uh, by they're doing their paint, both painting every single day. It's really fun and really gratifying to see that, and I've seen some people that have gone from you know this is just a total hobby to now they're going pro with it. So I've really enjoyed that whole ecosystem that has occurred and the people that I've met and the community that has come together because of um, and that wouldn't have happened if I didn't have this kind of easel product too, yeah, so that's how the most random things bring people together but at the same time, to build a community, inspire so many people.

Speaker 1: 52:02

I mean through art, to help people get through these hard times, or whatever that might be. I mean I mean that's one reason I love painting, because it is a therapeutic thing. It does, whatever that might be. I mean, yeah, I mean that's one reason I love painting, because it is a therapeutic thing. It does Cause again, like my other life is so quantifiable, so structured, so everything that all of a sudden I'm like, all right, let's um, flip the switch and go pick up a paintbrush, and it's a whole different experience. And like I always try to convey that to people of like hey, like listen, I know you don't think you're creative, I know you don't think you can do this, but give it a chance and you'll be surprised how I mean amazing and life-changing it can be.

Speaker 2: 52:36

Yeah, and I think you know people that are listening here that may not. Hey, I'm not a visual artist or whatever. I would say jump in, try it. I think it says who. It's probably your brain just telling you, no, I know. So, uh, like my brother-in-law, we we did a paint night here, um, and and I know a lot of people are experiencing paint night that's been kind of a fun thing to see. You know, people learn how to try painting, you know yeah, whatever it could like.

Speaker 1: 52:59

Yeah, as simple as like, innocent as it is, it's still yeah painting.

Speaker 2: 53:03

So my brother-in-law. I mean he's, he's a big sports guy, and not that you can't like sports and art, cause I do, I love sports too but, um, you know, he, he had the, he had the best time. It was just so great to see that he didn't know he had any talent whatsoever and, uh, he's like this is this is awesome, this is so much fun and and it's fun to see people for the first time like go into it and it's. It's one of those things that can really help. I mean, it's very therapeutic. It's like I would say it's like a yoga practice, because it involves your total mind and it's a mind-body sort of thing, and so I think it's extremely healthy. You're outdoors too, it's just really great and so so the majority of people that I've worked with over the years and taught like workshops and master classes and things like that, are either kind of a young professional or somebody that's retired and looking for something fulfilling to do, and it's been really gratifying to see how the people have just really taken to it and and it's become such a huge part of their life. Yeah, and and they and you know it's life, it really is life changing and and kind of given people that didn't have a whole lot of purpose a purpose, yeah, right, uh, so that's.

Speaker 2: 54:32

I love that community aspect of it. That's one of the things. Like you saw, the studio just the new studio built. The size is not necessarily just for me, it's also to be able to have classes or have people come and do paint outs and things like that. I really love the community aspect of, uh, plein air painting. It's, it's a lot of fun. So I, you know, I talked a bunch of people to come out in the winter painting with me this this past January and and then we had about 80 artists come and and paint when we were up here in Alpine with we have the park. It's a poppy Park there.

Speaker 1: 55:07

All these wild poppies come out and so pretty, so flowers are my favorite thing to paint.

Speaker 2: 55:11

Oh yeah, yes, so you should definitely come next year. Yes, we'll be doing that, it's a lot of fun. So those Anyway, this strata easel has become an interesting kind of thread that has another unexpected thing that's kind of come into my life. I mean, it's been a burden at times. Right, there are some challenges. I mean, when we went through COVID and sourcing materials and different things like that, it was just an enormous I can't even imagine enormous pain and, you know, really kind of a stress. But for the most part it's the community of artists and the people that that I've brought into almost like it's almost like a convert or something.

Speaker 1: 56:00

Yeah, it's like this proud, like moment of converting someone to the beautiful religion of painting.

Speaker 2: 56:07

Yeah, exactly.

Speaker 1: 56:08

And then they convert someone.

Speaker 2: 56:09

And next, beautiful religion of painting and art, yeah, exactly, and then they convert someone and next thing, you know, oh yes, and it spreads. It's just fantastic, but that's been a neat part of it. So now, switching gears here, if you don't mind, we kind of explored that space a little bit. So I do, going back to this kind of Brandon Sanderson and for those of you don't know who he is, you should look him up.

Speaker 1: 56:32

If you're from Utah and you don't know who Brandon Sanderson is, you need to know who Brandon Sanderson is Like there's it was actually funny on the perfect segue to him. So I didn't really know who he was until someone at work had mentioned, like I've heard this name. He's like he's like one of the best like fantasy art, like um writers, and he's in utah, and then I mean talk to you, I mean um howard about him. But then he posted a picture on um instagram of him and oh my gosh, what's the? Um plays on the spurs.

Speaker 1: 57:00

He's like the next legacy oh yeah, wimby, yeah, picture of him and him like jersey swapping. I'm like what, what is this world? But? And like, because he's, they're both fans of each other, which is amazing, like that's the caliber of person that Brandon Sanderson is. Yes, but yeah, so I love that that's come back and like it's come full circle with your like drawings from your childhood of all I mean fantasy and abstract.

Speaker 2: 57:30

So I have kind of funny, fun story to share. So when I was in college, I was going with a friend, dan Wells, to it. He was an author as well, he, good friend of mine, and he wanted me to go and interview James Christensen. James Christensen's, his fantastic artists. Some of you will know who he is, you have to look him up. He's passed away, but just one of the great Utah artists and he was into fantasy art and anyway, we went to interview him and he's like, oh, and a friend of mine who's also part of this Leading Edge magazine, he's going to come and do it too, and that was Brandon Sanderson, and that was brandon sanderson. So that's when I first met him, was back in college, and um, it was just this fun thing to talk to james christensen. He was talking about fantasy and, uh, and and just how valuable it was and as a, as a genre, and so we were all jazzed, you know, because all three of us were into it already.

Speaker 2: 58:27

Um, interestingly enough, though, I didn't, I had forgotten that it was Brandon. Uh, I, you know, cause Brandon wasn't Brandon yet. No, not at all, right, and um, it wasn't until I moved back to Utah. This is 15 years later and I, and then I was cause I was like I had to have been branded. So then I I finally talked to him and said, were you there at James Christensen? He's like, yeah, I was totally. And we talked about this one specific painting that James Christensen did called who TP the King. Basically it was a King Henry and then toilet paper all all around him. It was just this this funny, just great, uh, great painting. But anyway, that was like, yeah, I totally remember that painting.

Speaker 2: 59:14

Um, so it's just kind of fun that to uh, when I came back, I kind of had this itch because I and my kids were starting to get a little bit older. They're totally into, into, you know, star Wars and things like that too, and so I was kind of doing some drawing stuff with them and it kind of rekindled this childhood love of science fiction and fantasy. And so I started doing some of these, but more in this abstract sort of way, and taking all the knowledge I had from landscape painting and cityscapes and stuff like that and start making these paintings. And then I just I I was kind of, you know, just kind of a closet doing this, you know, not not showing anything in this. Um, I I told uh, this other artist about it.

Speaker 2: 59:58

This well-known artist that's, uh, lives in um in la and he outed me on, uh, on facebook. He's like he posted a uh, uh kind of a as imaginative sci-fi painting. He's like now I'm now brian mark taylor's gonna post one like, so he out, he so fun, all me out. But you know, I'm glad he did, because so then I I shared it and, um, and I wasn't planning I mean anything with it, yeah, just just some fun. Yeah, another experiment that you were trying, yes, another experiment. And I loved it because I could be so abstract with it, because you know, like a spaceship could be any shape, right, or you can make up whatever. And I posted it like. Five minutes later somebody asked wanted to buy it?

Speaker 2: 1:00:45

Like I kind of like how this works now, because it's so unique. Minutes later somebody asked wanted by it, like I kind of like how this works now, yeah, um, because so unique, um, there's not really anybody, um, that is that I am aware of. That is in doing these kind of abstracted science fiction, fantasy sort of uh, imagery, um, and so I've I found this kind of a of people that it really enjoy that work that I'm, that I'm doing, and it's really I don't show in any gallery, really, it's only I show it in certain groups on on Facebook. And then there's one specific show that I go to that I discovered that it's kind of this great group of people that loves the kind of things that I do and it's back east in Pennsylvania. It's called IX IX Show. It used to be called a LuxCon and anyway, I've been able to kind of scratch that itch and it's been a lot of fun and it was like I was a kid again, kind of the burden of the galleries and things like that are released in some ways.

Speaker 1: 1:01:52

It's just you in a canvas of mind. Yeah.

Speaker 2: 1:01:55

And just experimenting and and taking risks and, um, I've just really enjoyed that. And so now some of that stuff has led to some work that I've done, you know, in Brandon's books and things like that, which has been a lot of fun, and that's just been another little thread. That has been something that I've really enjoyed. So there's a lot of different things that I've done over the years that really help keep it interesting, Stay creative, stay experimental, stay like in that startup phase. You know startups are so much fun but then once you get into just corporate, it's a red tape and the processes and everything like that.

Speaker 1: 1:02:38

No one enjoys that. It's terrible.

Speaker 2: 1:02:40

So I keep wanting to start new things and stuff like that. Actually, a couple of years ago, we started uh me with uh another guy, uh Keith uh Wong. We started uh an online school and so which is called sentient Academy. So we have there's hundreds of uh lessons and things like that. Um that, uh, there's a whole database of you know you can study with a bunch of different artists and part of it, because I was like it's too expensive to go to art school nowadays.

Speaker 1: 1:03:11

Oh, yeah, it's more like a luxury than it is like it's, it's so expensive.

Speaker 2: 1:03:16

So, um, now we can do. There's so much content right online. Obviously, everything's changed now. Covid changed, accelerated, accelerated, all of that, yep. But back in 2005, I started helping the Academy of art university develop their online art program, uh, and they were one of the first to have their kind of curriculum put online. You take online classes, but anyway, that's, that was kind of that. I saw that that that's the future of that kind of education, because it's it's otherwise so expensive, right.

Speaker 1: 1:03:48

Yeah.

Speaker 2: 1:03:51

But I have really gone back to, even though now there's all this online content. Now I'm swinging back to going back into personal interaction and personal. Maybe. I got burned out a little bit during the COVID years over all the online stuff that we did, all the all the videos and things like that. So now I'm back to really wanting to have a human connection.

Speaker 1: 1:04:17

Yeah, I think there's a lot of people feeling that, because, I mean, there's so many conversations I have recently where it's like, hey, remember how that happened, like cause it's like it's almost like life has gone. The remember how that happened, like cause, it's almost like life has gone, the pendulum swing has gone back to like normalcy. And then, like we'll talk about it and like, have that happen, cause, like I'm the same way and I'm like, oh yeah, like I don't want to do anymore. I want to see people and have that. But I'm sure there's going to be a time where, like, all right, now I'm kind of sick of everybody again, let's go back to the screen. I really don't need to see you the same way I do.

Speaker 2: 1:04:45

So I mean it has its purposes, right. Right, and so I mean it's great to have this time where, you know, with like a podcast like this, we can have these kind of interviews, we can have opportunities to meet these interesting people that maybe aren't going to be on NPR or something like that, you know, because maybe the niche isn't large enough or scandalous enough or whatever. Whatever it needs to be.

Speaker 1: 1:05:09

And that's part of the thing, cause, like I'll reach out to people and like, okay, cool, just send me a zoom link and we'll do it. Like no, no, no, I don't, I don't do that. Like I will always prefer in person. There's stuff like more rich of a conversation, like, oh, I've never done one in person. I'm like well, welcome to the red one.

Speaker 2: 1:05:25

No, and I prefer that too, absolutely Over the Zoom type of thing. I think and that's where my mindset is at is trying to have these like real connections, and that's what I want people to do too. With the art they you know my art, especially because of this mark making and the way that it is layered. You really need to see it in person and, of course, I showed on Instagram, I showed on all the social media and stuff like that, but I want people to come see it in person. It's a completely different experience, absolutely. The thickness of the paint, the textures, the way the you know natural light when it hits the painting creates a certain mood with it. You just got to experience it in person.

Speaker 1: 1:06:13

I think the thing that drove it home for me is when me and John went down to BYU to go see the Sorolla exhibit that Micah got, and again you could look at a picture of a Sorolla painting and be like, oh cool, here's a woman at the beach, great. But then once you start looking at the marks and how like aggressive they are and how like, with one simple stroke of one simple color, it goes from fabric to like wet fabric attached to like the woman's side, you're like incredible, completely different experience. And so I mean, go to galleries. If you haven't been to anthony's, you gotta go and just get, get micah on any tangent you can, and just sit back and listen.

Speaker 2: 1:06:50

Oh, he, you know what. He is a national treasure. Seriously, he and his father, I mean, they know so much. I mean, if you live in Utah and you haven't been to Anthony's, you are missing out a major part of Salt Lake experience. Totally, I mean, they're just it, it's the best, it's solid experience. Totally, I mean, they're just it, it's the best. It's really fantastic. And they've and they do some fun things occasionally. They've done recently the candlelight thing, yes, where they show all their artwork by candlelight because that's how it used to be seen. Right, that's one of the ways it used to be seen, and so you know just the way they're recreating things, to where you kind of step back in time and, and especially especially in the 19th century, there's, there's some amazing things that they highlight, uh, uh and and know so much about that. It just it's transporting, you know, and uh, it's, it's a fun experience, so highly recommend it, definitely.

Speaker 1: 1:07:41

Um well, brian, it's been an absolute um amazing to get to know you. I mean, I've always loved hearing people's artistic journeys, I mean, especially how I mean you've gone through so many experiences, so many different teachers, so many different styles, and it's even fun more fun to see it come full circle from I mean kind of this childhood passion and then find that again, because I'm a big believer in I mean, go make your eight, 10, 12 year old self proud. Yes, go make your eight, 10, 12 year old self proud and you'll find it's crazy how those emotional connections, those, um, I mean feelings are really are still there and so, and it's so rewarding and it's so, so, um, gratifying at the same time. Uh, but kind of want to wrap up with the two questions I always ask everybody at the end. Uh is, first, is if you could have someone on the small Lake city podcast and hear more about them and what they're up to, who would you want to hear from?

Speaker 2: 1:08:28

Well, that is, that is a great question. Um, wow, um, there's, well, there's, uh I forget his name, but uh, the guy that makes a mono chocolate. Okay, we haven't had a chocolate here yet, you't, okay, and I'm sorry I forget, I forget his name, but I would, just from the stories I've heard about him, I think he would be a very interesting guy to talk to. So I, I love I mean obviously I love other artists and I love to, you know, talk with them, um, but I also love to like manufacturers, um, and so, like the vanderhall group that manufactures the, the cars, I think that'd be very fun.

Speaker 2: 1:09:17

Yeah, um, or uh, fazari, the uh bike company company, um, so there's a couple people there that I think would be fun to uh to talk to. Uh, there's also um, and and you'll have to have Micah's help on this Um, again, I'm so bad with names, but uh, uh, there's. There's a few collectors I think would be really fun for you to.

Speaker 1: 1:09:47

Yeah, like the opposite end of things. Yeah yeah, I think so too. I haven't thought about it like that. It's a good point.

Speaker 2: 1:09:53

So, of course, vern Swanson, if you haven't interviewed him, I think he's a very fun person to listen to and, yeah, I'm trying to think if there's an interesting guy to talk to. On a lot of levels, he and I, I think there's some kindred spirit in the sense that we like to be distracted artists and have other projects and other things we're building or doing and stuff like that, and so you know, I'm just interested in people that have a lot of that curiosity, right, and I think when I find a kindred spirit like that that's curious about the world, not just their own narrow domain, those are the people that I just gravitate towards, Ones that are like oh wait, I want to know about that and I love to, even if it's about law or accounting. Whatever they're doing, I want to find out about it. What's interesting to you about it and what do you hate about?

Speaker 1: 1:11:12

it. It's the story of my life. I am the most curious. I'll be like tell me more about this. I'm a jack of all trades, master of none, but I just get so curious I want to hear all about it. It could be the most boring thing in the world, but I'm still very curious and I always want to expand my knowledge in that. So I understand that.

Speaker 2: 1:11:29

That, that, that pull so and I and I wander around, even like here at alpine. There's, there's a lot of creative stuff going on just right in here and um, occasionally I'll see somebody working in their barn or whatever, uh, you know, or their their man cave or or whatever, and I'll just poke my head, hey can.

Speaker 2: 1:11:46

I ask you what you're doing. You know, I just I just love finding out what you know people do, cause there's all kinds of weird interesting things, or maybe it's a business they're doing, or maybe it's just some crazy hobby. Um, and uh, oh uh, there is um a guy, a woodworker, that you might enjoy talking to. He's a really interesting guy. He lives here in Alpine and last name is Apostle. I forget his first name Sounds fitting, yeah, but his house is so cool. It's all custom, like custom joinery and everything. It's amazing. But there's just people like that. That's what I love to find, only here in the us, but around the world. I love finding those artisans, those people that are carrying on traditions for thousands of years, like somebody that's weaving something or somebody's making a basket, or somebody that's carving this or that and the other, and I've collected a bunch of these, you know, objects and things that, uh, that that I find when I find somebody that makes this kind of yeah like I appreciate your craft.

Speaker 2: 1:12:50

This is amazing, yes, and I love that they're they're keeping the tour you know they're holding the torch, and a lot of times it's a labor love and not none of them getting rich over it, but um, anyway, those are the kinds of people inspire me, so I love that you're doing this podcast, that and it's multidisciplinary, you know, and um, you know, I think it, it it also will help We'll find each other. You know these people that are curious about the world.

Speaker 1: 1:13:15

Without a doubt, like that's.

Speaker 1: 1:13:17

I mean, there's like the self-serving part of the podcast that I have where I do just be like I want to sit down and pick your brain for an hour and hear all about it, and it is fun, like every single person.

Speaker 1: 1:13:27

I haven't had a single episode where I'm like, well, that was a waste of time, or like they are super boring, or like I don't want to release this episode. It's always some sort of unique perspective, no matter who they are or where they're coming from. And so, yeah, the more that we can understand people I mean even in today's world the more that we can understand someone, why they do it, um, there's a whole part of appreciation that you gain for that other person. And so, the more that we can have these in-person interactions and talk and chat and understand, and even if it's just listening to a conversation on a podcast, there's the, there's a level of understanding or almost feeling like you're in the room where you do, do you get to experience that? And so I'm glad that I've been able to, um, provide that for people like it's weird now the, the people that will come up. You're like, oh my gosh, I love your conversation with so-and-so, I learned so much. I'm like, you're welcome, like I. I too felt that like.

Speaker 1: 1:14:13

And now, we can talk about it and it, and it's been fun to experience so much. I'm so excited for the future. Yeah, brian, if I mean you, your art Strada, I mean what's the best place to find them?

Speaker 2: 1:14:26

Yeah, just go into my website brianmarktaylorcom Brian with a Y, so you know those three first names. Or just on Instagram, you know Brian Mark Taylor. You can easily find me there too. That'll do it.

Speaker 1: 1:14:43

Yeah, I'm going to have to get a Strada easel, take it through TSA, take it to the top of a mountain maybe in the winter we'll find out um, and get some more plein air paint, cause I think that's the next step in my artistic journey. Absolutely, uh. But yeah, brian, absolutely great sitting down with you, getting to know you better. Thanks for having me. Um, yeah, excited for more to come, especially more of your um, abstract, sci-fi, fantasy stuff and see, see where that goes as well.

Speaker 2: 1:15:05

Yeah Well, I'm excited'm excited. Brandon Sanderson's got his convention. You ought to come to that. I should go to that. It's going to be this December and it's going to blow the doors off. It is called Dragonsteel.

Speaker 1: 1:15:22

Anyway, I'll be there with my art Dragonsteel yeah, yeah, I'm gonna put that on my calendar because that's absolutely a thing I need to go to. Yeah, well, cool, super fun, awesome. Well, thanks so much, brian. Yeah, keep on keeping on, and I'm excited to see what else you get done all right, thank you.