Fine Art Professionals of Northern Virginia

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Get to Know Our Featured Artist

Web Bryant

“Paintings are never finished until you find what the artist wanted you to see."

Web Bryant

I turned to oil painting and fine art after a long career designing and illustrating some of the great newspapers in our country, including USA Today. The deadline-driven world of journalism required mediums that could be executed quickly. I started out with watercolors and then mastered digital painting with pixels. Now, I'm using oil glazing and other techniques of the Old Masters, and learning to be patient.

My paintings combine a journalistic eye for the narrative, and an intimate view of the passing moment. I paint real places and real people. Places you want to go, and people you would like to meet. My studio is in suburban Washington, D.C.

SANTA MARIA MONTI (cover image) - 18 x 24 - oil

AREA OF EXPERTISE

“I want to capture the energy in a line, and the vibe of a color."

Web Bryant

CONTE NUDE - 18 x 24 - sanguin pastel

NARRATIVE PAINTINGS

I sometimes joke that I’m a painter of nouns—people, places and things. After a long career illustrating newspapers, I’m always interested in the narrative and the emotion behind a picture, something that a viewer feels rather than sees.

Trees have always fascinated me, both in nature and in art. The shapes and colors are limitless. Light bounces off bark and leaves while wind makes everything kinetic. They are also living things—sometimes quite old—with individual stories to tell.

BONSAI BANYAN TREE - 36 x 24 - oil

COPSE OF TREES - 36 x 12 - oil

IN THE STUDIO

Web at work in his studio. "If I didn’t draw or paint, I would be a fan of people who draw or paint."

I work on a pedestal drafting board, with my pencils, paints and brushes to my right and my iMac around the board to my left. I have a black-and-white tuxedo cat named Mojo who keeps me company and steals my chair the moment I move. I listen to talk radio, music, and audio books while I work. My studio has a long window at ground level. Each spring I endeavor to train a new chipmunk to tap on the window to get nuts.

BLUE TAILED SKINK - 24 x 36 - oil

STUDY OF THE PURITAN - 12 x 16 - oil

FREEDOM ATOP THE CAPITOL 12 x 36 - oil

“If you find a person who is willing to stay perfectly still for hours, then that person is more than a model; he or she is trying to be part of your drawing or painting, to be your muse."

Web Bryant

HISTORIC PLUM - 18 x 24 - oil

AFTER THE FOURTH - 36 x 24 - oil

I like to have three paintings working at all times, each in different states of dryness. I try to go to life drawing often, where I use charcoal and conté crayons. Then I seal those drawings with varnish and paint on top with oil. I go out plein air painting at least once a month.

LONGWOOD GARDEN SENTINEL

12 x 36 - oil

“I hope every person who buys one of my works will really study it and find that special spot that makes them look and look again. Those spots become their part of the painting."

Web Bryant