By Katie Scarvey
The Salisbury Post
In May, Mark Brincefield took the plunge that has to be scary for almost any artist, no matter how talented: he decided to devote himself to his art without a back-up job.
Being “a full-time art guy,” as he puts it, has gone OK so far, he says.
Brincefield is known by many in Salisbury for his editorial cartoons in the Salisbury Post ó “Mook’s Place.” He also does numerous illustrations for the Post ó both comic and serious.
But Brincefield has also gained fame locally as a watercolor artist.
You can find his work at the Salisbury Emporium and at the Art Station in Spencer.
And Friday, you can meet the elusive artist himself at the opening of his first solo exhibition at the Art Station, 514 S. Salisbury Ave.
The opening reception starts at 6 p.m.
“Sara (Gettys) talked me into it,” Brincefield says.
Gettys, owner of The Art Station, agrees.
“We’ve been talking about it for a while,” she says.
Brincefield is well-known for his rural landscapes, and you’ll see some of those at The Art Station, but he’s also a fine portraitist, and some of his favorites on display.
One he loves is of his godson, Andrew Dandison, wearing his Louisiana State University marching band uniform.
There also several other portraits of people playing instruments. Perhaps because he himself is a musician, Brincefield seems to be drawn to capturing musicians at work.
One impressive portrait is of Mississippi blues musician John Hurt.
Brincefield has also put his spin on a Jon Lakey photograph of a man sitting on a bench in East Spencer.
Brincefield did that one on illustration board, which has been gessoed and distressed, he says. He loves the original photo it’s based on, and he’s happy with how his version turned out as well.
Most of the paintings are of local people or scenes, although some of them were inspired by things he saw in the mountains ó like a row of flowerpots on the second floor of a building in Asheville.
One of his favorites is a watercolor of sunflowers that he saw in his friend Clyde Overcash’s back yard.
These days, Brincefield wants his art to be “a little less representational, a little more abstract ó but not Picasso abstract,” he says.
“I like to make things more thrown together,” he says. “I like things that happen by chance you can’t control.
“The better you get as an artist, the less control you try to put on it,” he says.
Brincefield normally likes a fairly simple color palette; in recent days, he’s experimenting with stronger colors to give his paintings a little more intensity.
“A little less water, a little more color,” is how he puts his new approach.
This year ó undoubtedly because of the struggling economy, art has been selling a little slowly. Brincefield doesn’t worry too much about it. He can count on his newspaper work, and he doesn’t worry too much about the rest of it.
“I paint what makes me happy,” he says.
Sometimes that’s a pair of Converse tennis shoes; sometimes it’s a little girl playing a mandolin, with the light shining on her just so.
Local folks are glad that Brincefield paints what makes him happy, because it generally makes us happy, too.
For more information, call The Art Station Studio and Gallery at 704-633-6410.