If there was ever an artist who captured today's sporting experience
with yesterday's sense of adventure, it is Brett Smith. Born on March
19, 1958 in New Orleans, Louisiana, Smith is now considered to be among
the best in his field.
In his early years, Smith was introduced to the
sporting life by his grandfather who exposed him to the gentlemen's sport
of quail hunting in the Longleaf Pine country of east Texas. Later he
discovered a calling for sitting in cold wet marshes and swamps hunting
ducks. This became his true passion and a great source of inspiration
for his later works.
His early introduction to sporting art came from his father who worked
professionally as an illustrator and moonlighted as a fine artist contributing
printings for covers of the early outdoor and western magazines. In college
as a fine art major, Smith realized that the contemporary art curriculum would
not equip him with the background needed to pursue the area that interested him
most-commercial illustration.
It was at that time that he enrolled in the
Famous Artist School that stressed painting and drawing of the human figure
and designing pictures that tell stories. Unhappy with the direction of his
college experience, Smith left school and began a career on his own as a
commercial illustrator. Realizing that the majority of work in this field
originated out of New York City, he acquired an artist representative and
began working for a wide variety of corporate and editioral clients. After a
few years, he decided to try his hand at "easel" painting for the fine art
market. As subjects for his paintings he chooses familiar landscapes and
acquaintances he has made over years of hunting and fishing across the country.
Sportsmen nationwide collect his work because it is not only visually exciting
but also authentic and brings to bear his intimate knowledge of his sporting
experience. He is one of the few artists who brings an ageless nostalgia to
his subjects. By looking back to the early illustrators such as Howard Pyle
and N. C. Wyeth for inspiration, he manages to distance himself from his
contemporaries. As he puts it, "What is important in these outdoor paintings
is mood, a feeling of how things were and still can be. The idea is to convey
the natural ruggedness of the sport without missing the subtle nuances that
make the experience personal".
Smith's preferred medium is transparent
watercolor or oil paints. The subject usually dictates the medium used.
He uses oils for large complex scenes. Watercolors are used when more
spontaneous results are desired. Working in three dimensions, he recently
completed his first bronze sculpture of a flyfisherman.
Brett Smith now
employs the timeless art of etching to create the luster of an ageless sporting
scene. Although it is a painstaking process, it can produce an antiquated
appearance that cannot be duplicated in any other medium when successful.
With over 150 images to date he knows enough to realize that you never
"master" this process but only learn more with each experience.
Smith's paintings hang in some of the most prestigious collections throughout
the country. His work has been featured in such publications as
Gray's Sporting Journal, Ducks Unlimited magazine,
Sporting Classics, Shooting Sportsman, and Double Gun Journal.
He has contributed to several books most recently a reprint of William
Faulkner's classic "Big Woods". Smith has been recognized for his work
with such organizations as GCCA, Atlantic Salmon Federation, Ruffed Grouse
Society, Ducks Unlimited, and many others. He presently resides with his
wife Cindy and two children in Kenner, Louisiana.
