Featured Artist: Tony Warren!

Tony Warren. Super nice guy and a WOW artist! There is something special about his watercolor paintings. I love them. There is a freeness to them. Years ago my sister attended a demo or workshop and came home with a painting. I can picture it now, such a great little painting – she learned a lot. Isn’t that the best kind of workshop? The low-pressure/learn a lot/have a good time type of workshop. You simply can’t beat it!

I went through all the paintings on Tony’s website – so fabulous! It was hard to settle on just one – but this painting grabbed me. I love the backlit aspect of it – how the boats are darker, the sky is moody, the water, reflective. It truly is a lot to capture in one painting with limited colors. Fabulous!

Be sure to check out Tony’s paintings via the WEBSITE link below – and if you’re in the Michigan area – check out the Workshop tab. If you aren’t in the MI area, you may want to visit!

THE ARTIST’S INFO

WEBSITE | Workshops

About the Artist (via Tony’s website):

Born into an artistic family in Detroit, Michigan, the artist’s journey into self-expression was a foregone conclusion. Inspired by an artist neighbor, he began painting small landscapes in oil at the age of nine. Encouraged by his interest in art his parents enrolled him in 5 separate studios over several years including “Verve Gallery of Detroit.”

Tony began competitive exhibition at Grosse Pointe North High School in 1969, and under the direction of noted artist Robert Rathburn, Tony won many awards including a full scholarship to the American Academy of Art in Chicago in the National Scholastic Art Competition. He later mentored many young adults through the same program to become scholarship winners themselves.

A few years later Tony opened the Golden Age Studio in St. Clair Shores, Michigan. The artist taught oil painting, doing commissions, while experimenting with a variety of diverse media, styles, and techniques to find his unique approach to expressing himself.

As he continued teaching and entering competitive exhibitions, Tony worked through the practicalities of life as a landscaper, custodian, porter, mover, rough carpenter, public works employee, machinist, house painter and a master cabinet maker. The “fire of desire” burned deep and while doing h-point engineering for a suburban auto supplier he landed an illustrator’s position at Chevrolet Motor Division. In a few short years he had done over 40 posters and had over 3 million copies in print, including limited editions, commemoratives from many diverse venues, the Detroit Grand Prix, Indianapolis 500 Pace Car poster, Days of Thunder with Tom Cruise, the Philadelphia Distance Run, the America’s Cup, 40 years of Corvette, the General Motors Cup Hydroplane Race and many others too numerous to mention. Efforts include the 40 years of Small Block Power poster done in conjunction with international cutaway artist David Kimble. Tony’s work has been featured on the cover and inside various publications including Florist Review, Wired, Corvette Quarterly, Pro Magazine and other automotive publications. Tony was asked to join General Motors Design Center and began doing sculpture, architectural modeling and fine art for the company corporate collection and special projects. Working on the design of the “Test Track” ride at Epcot Center at Disney World in Florida has been a recent highlight in his career.

The artist has received over 100 awards and recognitions in over 110 shows and exhibitions, as well as being called on to judge or jury special exhibitions. Tony has been featured in many newspaper articles as well as having his own one hour long award-winning cable TV program “Expressions with Tony Warren” broadcast over most of southeastern Michigan on Comcast, Continental and Time-Warner broadcasting for many years. Noted for his bold style one of his watercolors was selected as a finalist in the 1994 “Artist’s Magazine Places” as well as being a finalist in “Best of Watercolor” by Rockport Publishers of Massachusetts. The artist has been a member of the Lakeside Palette Club, the Romeo Art Guild, and currently the Michigan Watercolor Society. Mr. Warren has studied with noted artists Bill Parks, western artist Mike Desatnick and internationally known watercolorists, Irving Shapiro AWS and Tony Couch AWS. Tony has been teaching in public and private venues since 1975. His students continue to win many awards, scholarships, and recognitions.

The artist has designed, created and supervised the set and prop construction for several productions including “Heaven’s Gates, Hell’s Flames”, “Timeless King” as well as many others. Tony has designed and created awards for such notables as George Bush, Ronald Reagan, Tiger Woods, Darrel Waltrip, Date Earnhardt, Jeff Gordon, Richard Childress, Rick Hendricks and many top General Motors executives and dealers nationwide. Mr. Warren has also designed, sculpted and cast the international “Chrysler Hall of Fame Awards.” Being multifaceted Tony’s caricatures and cartoons grace the walls of auto executives and famous race car drivers nationwide, including Bob Stemple, J.C. Perkins, Herb Fishel, Bill France Jr., A.J. Foyt, Tommy Kendall, Jack Baldwin, Kevin Harvick, Jimmy Johnson and many others. Tony’s political cartoons are poignant examples of art serving a greater need in our lives. Mr. Warren’s work continues to be sold and auctioned to benefit various organizations such as Boy Scouts of America, Cystic Fibrosis, Red Cross Disaster Relief, The National Corvette Museum, Meadowbrook Concourse, Hospice of Michigan, Coalition on Temporary Shelter, Empty Bowls and many others as well.

Tony continues to make Michigan his home. The artist divides his time between family, church, painting, teaching, demonstrations, workshops, lectures and “enough stuff” to keep him busy for a lifetime.

Read Tony’s Artist’s Statement HERE… How cool to know what you want to do at such a young age!

Such a nice guy – very talented as well – be sure to check out his paintings via his website! If you ever get the chance to watch one of his demos or take a workshop (check out above link) – I would DO IT!