Steve Scheuring's fascination with art began at a very early age. His early influences were MAD magazines, comic books, and Frank Frazetta, the legendary science fiction/fantasy artist. "I can remember being 11 years old, sitting in our downstairs rec. room, spending hours copying Frank Frazetta's drawings and paintings. I was mesmerized by books I had of his work. My Mom could never get my attention when I was deep into a drawing. She'd say, 'the house could be burning, and you wouldn't even know it.'" (See Frank Frazetta Copies below.)
After nearly a decade away from the canvas, a trip to Paris in 2003 renewed Steve's passion for painting. Steve's canvases glow with a brilliance and excitement that pulls the viewer into the painting. Images from the streets of Paris…markets in small Pennsylvania towns…and summers at the shore all come together into a growing collection of paintings that reveal more and more of the artist through his distinctive style.
Steve cites Salvador Dali and Andrew Wyeth as his favorite artists, "but I've been influenced to some degree by every painting I've seen." Steve lives in Southeastern Pennsylvania with his wife, Stacey, and three children - the models and inspiration for many of his paintings.
Steve took some art classes in high school. (See sketches completed in high school above.) Yet Steve remained relatively self-taught until his last year in college. At that time, he enrolled in a painting class at Penn State University, and immediately fell in love with the medium of oil. The ability of oils to capture subtle contrasts in light and temperature pulled Steve into a concerted effort to learn, understand and explore this medium.
Most of Steve's work is a form of portraiture. "I'm an incessant people watcher. Love crowds - ballgames, airports, boardwalks. In almost all of my work, I include people. One weekend a few years ago, I got the bug to paint a still life. Had an intense afternoon light coming in a westerly window. Set up some apples, bottles, peaches, a coffee grinder - many elements that had some personal meaning for my wife. But, wasn't happy with the composition. It needed something - couldn't figure it out. My middle daughter saw what I was doing, came over to the composition, and inserted a photo of her and her sister, Sarah. 'Dad, I want to be in the painting.' That little addition - the human element - was exactly the touch the painting needed." Click to see Sarah and Emily's Still Life.
Steve at mid point with
"Pomegranate Flesh and Blood"
Click on the images to enlarge.
Early Frank Frazetta Copies
Sketches Completed in High School
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