Painting a smaller canvas
Edward Gilmore always knew he would paint for a living. He just hadn’t pictured canvases smaller than a house. Gilmore, a former housepainter, turned to art about four years ago, taking out his frustrations during a rough patch in life. It was a therapeutic moment that changed the course of his career.
Since that first brush with canvas, the Coeur d’Alene man has splashed onto the local art scene with colorful, abstract expressionist paintings.
His work will be on display next week in Seattle for his first solo show, with a portion of the proceeds benefiting the Children’s Village in Coeur d’Alene. His local management company, Odyssey in Art, is sponsoring the invitation-only display at the Sheraton Seattle Hotel.
“It was mainly a personal thing,” Gilmore said of the origin of his painting. “I never thought it would be this big.”
Since taking his artwork public less than four months ago, Gilmore has pulled in more than $250,000 by selling fewer than a dozen pieces. One canvas – streaked with teal, yellow, black and red – fetched more than $100,000, he said. “I pinch myself every morning,” said Gilmore, 40, who lacks formal art training. “You always think it’s someone else that it will happen to. I’m just a simple guy who lives in Idaho and lives a simple life.”
A San Francisco native, Gilmore grew up in a family of house painters and construction contractors. At 18, he became a color consultant for Victorian homes refurbished in the Bay Area.
He went on to paint houses for two decades, the last 16 years with his own business, Team Painting, in Coeur d’Alene.
“It’s not that I didn’t like painting houses. But it wasn’t my passion,” said Gilmore, who moved to Coeur d’Alene in 1990. “Painting pictures is my passion. Now that I have it, I don’t want to let go.”
Gilmore offered to hang his first paintings in Starbucks shops – a way to get his work in the public eye without his name attached. Some original pieces still decorate the walls of the Hayden and Post Falls coffee shops. That led to his discovery.
He quit house painting last July, found a management team and painted seven days a week, often until early morning, to prepare his collection.
Admirers say his art is reminiscent of the late American Jackson Pollock’s abstract expressionist works, known for a splattered look created by dripping or pouring paint.
Likewise, Gilmore dabs, dots and swooshes paint onto canvas, leaving thick swatches of vibrant colors crisscrossing his often-mammoth paintings.
“People say the composition is natural. You never leave the canvas,” Gilmore said. “The color keeps you in the painting.”
In his 5,500-square-foot studio on Seltice Way in Post Falls, the floor is spotted with the remnants of his work. A paint-spattered table holds his tools of trade: wooden and plastic kitchen spoons, spatulas, brushes, paint stir sticks – and even a 2-foot-long metal whisk.
Gilmore frequently uses more than 10 gallons of acrylic paint per piece, often with 10 different coats, he said. A burly man whose grungy clothes, sandals and visor are speckled with a color-wheel full of paint, Gilmore rarely touches the canvas.
“To be honest with you, I can’t draw a stick person,” he said. “You get a paintbrush in my hand and that changes everything.”
Gilmore, who has a son and two stepchildren, also has dabbled in sculpture, made with memorabilia scooped up at auctions and antique shops. One music-themed piece is centered on a ladder, with records, horns, drums and a guitar attached to the base.
Another cowboy-themed sculpture displays a paint-soaked saddle, stirrups, lasso rope, bridles and hats glued into a 6-foot-tall column. He coated the sculpture with 35 gallons of paint.
“The reason they’ll go is they’re so original,” Gilmore said.
Sally and Jerry Donovan, of Hayden, are betting that Gilmore’s work will go. The couple recently invested in three of his paintings. A few years ago, Gilmore painted their home and built a deck for it.
“I didn’t realize he was that good,” Jerry Donovan said.
The retired couple said that after visiting Gilmore’s studio, they were captivated by the depth of color and vibrancy of his work.
“I’ve never been too much for abstract,” Sally Donovan said. “Then to see all of the gorgeous colors, I just couldn’t believe it. … You just don’t see art like that around here. Hopefully, he’s going to be the new, upcoming star here.”
After his first solo show, billed as the “art of colors,” on Feb. 22 and 23, Gilmore has six more scheduled around the country. “A lot of people say, ‘Oh, it’s a Cinderella story,’ ” Gilmore said. “I just say I’m blessed with this gift and I want to share it.”