Fred "Smitty" Smith Paints His Colorful Modern Art On A Nesting Doll
Look at this fantastic stacking doll created by artist Fred "Smitty" Smith. He used just a few colors to create a bright and modern looking matryoshka nesting doll. The unfinished wooden doll (six dolls total) needed a white slate first. Then, it was up to Fred's imagination.
Smitty started as an artist as a young boy. He enjoyed all sorts of creating art but also loved painting "paint-by-number" pieces that he chose as a toy every year during a family trip. It was not until he was older (around 20) that he discovered and fell in love with watercolors, the medium he has been with ever since.
Fred Smith's many years of working with watercolors has been wonderful for both him and anyone who sees his work; it is obvious how talented he is with the medium and with this creative mind.
I asked Fred the following:
Did you have fun with this paint-a-nesting-doll project?
"At first I have to say no, but it was trying to put my ideas on three dimensional medium that I found difficult. With my first idea I was getting a bit frustrated until I came up with the idea for the final pieces. I love the designs and the combination of my splattering and colors."
What is the title of your nesting doll? Could you elaborate on it?
"I have titled them simply Ode to my mentors. The artists that I have idolized since I was small have always been Picasso and Maltese. Their use of space and color have always spoken to me and I have found that I do my best work when I let my intuition guide me. Example: The colors I chose are alive and vibrant and that is how I feel my work speaks to people; through my use of color and design."
What inspires your work?
"Number one I love color, I love to watch the combinations of colors come together almost by magic and create something really special. I call this Intuitive Painting. Second I love the reactions on people’s faces when one of my paintings touch their inner child and they get happy and giddy like a little child. As far as my inspiration in creating again intuition, I see something and it speaks to my heart and I can’t get it out of my head. I never know what the next piece will look like."
What types of mediums have you tried in addition to what you currently work with?
"I have gone through periods of different mediums but nothing ever really stuck. I think I was more in love with the process of creating than with a particular medium until I found watercolor. For most of my young life I painted with oils, but as a good perfectionist I would get frustrated because I could always alter it and could never be really happy with any of my work. That is one of the things I like about watercolor... it is almost instant and doesn’t give you a chance to correct over and over again. I find that very therapeutic."
What do you like best about being an artist?
"Freedom to express the world as I see it and not by anybody else's perception."
What advice would you give a young person interested in art?
"No matter what, if you love to create, continue through all the criticism until you find that one medium or style that fits your soul like glove. The world is a different place for artists; we don’t see it like everyone else so we need to continue the journey as we feel it."
More About Smitty
- He's starting a new website featuring Sports Art by himself. His colorful watercolors are now capturing the characters of some very special athletes! Take a look at Sports Art by Smitty.
- Smitty wanted to share this portrait (pictured left). The woman's name is Anna and she is Smitty's wife's sister-in-law. Smitty's wife is from Belarus near Minsk. Smitty states "I love the character of the Russian people."
- A dream of Smitty's is "To travel to the south of France and see what Picasso saw and paint in the same style."
About the author
Lindsey Mae is freelance artist who enjoys writing fun blog posts for Arina Anashkina and The Russian Store.