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With a lighthearted, whimsical style, Cross illustrates the wonders of nature that fascinate us. “Why do we travel all over the country to find the perfect autumn display of color, or collect seashells or gaze time and time again at the stars?” he asks. Calling these natural phenomena “Trapped Magic,” Cross freezes these ideas in his paintings and surrounds them with enchantment. Shells float inside pastel bubbles, rocks bearing faces support mermaids, stars dazzle fairies, and wizards master the magic in each painting.
“My paintings are ancient in content and look, but I use both traditional tools and tools of the future to implement them,” says Cross, referring to his marriage of tools like pencil and paper with the tool of tomorrow - the computer. “The computer’s ability to let me visualize ideas, layouts, juxtapositions of characters and scenes, not only speeds things along but actually frees up the creative process to be more responsive to the ideas and inspiration when it begins to really flow. I spend more of my time actually exploring and implementing instead of methodically plodding through the piece burdened by the constraints of cleaning brushes, finding the right paper or canvas, etc. Ironically, because of the luxury I now have to try many different ideas in rapid succession - all the while saving each as a separate “sketch” to be returned to later if need be- I actually find myself trying many things artistically that I would be afraid to do with just brush and canvas. I don’t have to worry about ruining anything. I have no fear to experiment anymore!”
When creating his artwork, Cross often begins with sketch - sometimes done on paper and scanned in, sometimes sketched right on the computer with the use of a cordless pressure sensitive stylus and tablet that very effectively mimics the look and feel of natural drawing and painting. He then begins to fill in the color and strokes, or ‘paint with electric light’ as he likes to call it. “The fact is that I have some 16.7 million color choices on my digital palette. I’m not constrained or hindered by tubes of smelly paint and dried up 'perfect' colors,” that can never be recaptured," remarks Cross. “And the real beauty of it all is that when finished it is digitally direct printed as a giclée print, which is the only medium that can capture all the colors and subtleties I employ. It is really ironic that my chosen medium is also the one best suited for taking full advantage of the giclée print medium, which is a medium gaining wide acceptance for its superior quality and reproduction values.”
Even though he’s stepping into the future with his techniques, Cross’ concepts are steeped in simplicity. “I’d like to encourage people to look around, have a good time out there; ecology doesn’t have to be drudgery,” says Cross. “It’s so easy with our busy pace of life and technology out there - faxes, phones, modems - to forget the medium that we are all swimming through together. And that is nature.” |
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