SRTN welcomes Charlie French!

“Yes, I have Down syndrome, but first I want you to see me: Charlie French. And then I want you to see my art. I am an abstract artist. I am an intuitive artist.  I embrace a blank canvas with a sense of wonder and adventure. I work hard, I keep learning but mostly I let go, be FREE and have FUN.

Special thanks to guest co-host Karen French.

The Questions:

Question 5: what or who made you who you are?

My imagination. It is always with me. It is me. And I’m a funny guy.

Question 7: why is there something rather than nothing?

I don’t like nothing. I like lots of somethings. And my imagination gives me lots. I happily paint on a big white canvas of nothing. My imagination creates lots of somethings! So I will keep painting!

Question 1: were you an artist when you were born?

yep

Question 2: let’s chat about your artwork, your painting

OK! My website: www.justcharliefrench.org is a portfolio of my art. This is where you can see a lot of my art. My series.

At first these paintings were BIG. But now I paint these on fine art paper. Some days I like to be FREE when I paint, and some days I love to follow a routine.

These paintings follow a process now: tape the paper, use titan buff and white high flow for a base coat, choose high flow colors and add with a scraper and water spray. Keep adding colors until I am happy. Let dry, and then add the black lines using my template and a bigger scraper. And that’s it. Morning in Paris. I have 10 new ones coming out this summer, and I am learning how to make prints for an on-line shop. It is not as easy as painting.

My Instagram followers really like my Morning in Paris series. During Covid my little brother Will was staying with us. We watched a movie from when we were little kids: Disney’s The Hunchback of Notre Dame. We lived in Europe and have visited Paris many times. I love Paris. And so I started painting Notre Dame with my brother. It was a lot of fun.

And one more series I love is my Squares series. There is something about squares that makes me feel good. I love shapes. But my favorite is the square. I love using big brushes to make big square designs. And also using pencils.

More recently, I painted The Muffin Man paintings. These are about muffins. I love muffins. Even gluten free muffins! I was laughing so hard when I painted these that I had to sit down one time.

I really hope my paintings help people see my happiness.

I have a lot more series. I paint what is in my mind. What makes me feel good. I just let go and be free. So, for example, when it was snowy and cold, I painted a new series called Snowy Day. How could I paint snow? Well, I used one of my favorite tools: high flow white acrylic paint. I pour it from the top of the canvas and swipe down with a big sponge. Beautiful snow.

I went to Mexico after my vaccines. And I have been working on this series, but using white textured bubbles instead of dark fathoms. I loved watching and touching the white bubbles in the ocean. It’s beautiful.

My favorite series is In the fathoms below. These paintings are about the beginning of The Little Mermaid Disney movie. The sky, the sea, the birds and the ship in the dark fathoms below! This always makes me laugh. It makes me happy. I play the music when I paint this series. I love it!

So first is my Imagination. These are paintings from my mind. They are inspired by music, water, food, movies, shapes. They are inspired by things that make me happy.

http://www.justcharliefrench.org/