Tom Montan, a lovely new website

Tom’s new site viewed on full screen.

Tom’s new site viewed on my iPhone.

New Website

Okay it has taken a few weeks but I am finally ready for primetime. After many generous emails from a new found advisor in Joe Ragey from Foothill College. I was reminded that my 3 plus year old website needed some tightening and a refresh. This sent me on a path to my son Xavier…amazing web designer and, well, my son. He seemed pretty convinced that I should not rely on him for noodling and niggling my own word press site like before. After all he is now living in England and so communication and help is not as readily available. So this took me down many other paths and I was amazed at how far the web has come with easy to manage and adaptable templated web designs. So many choices made the decision really hard. I ambled some more and looked at sites I liked and finally settled on my new partner squarespace designs as the backbone for this new site. I could not be happier and this company has been a joy to work with and has helped me at all turns. Please take some time and wander my new site. I have already had some very valuable feedback from many, but would love to hear what you think. Give it a test drive and let me know what you think.

New Portrait

Meet Ron. I have known Ron for many years, and we have spent many hours together in the early days of the Sebastopol Center for the Arts, Sculpture Jam program. We did three Jams together and were part of one of the more notable projects titled “the door” which can be seen in Sebastopol’s town square. I consider Ron a mentor and a guide post for me. Ron will probably read this and may not like many to know that he is really a “softie”…he has a rather hard and somewhat forboding exterior which often feeds the mystique of tortured artist. I haven’t visited recently but I remember his studio as alchemy…where elements of fire and metal often met to create amazing and intricate art. This portrait in its largess was created simply and largely in black and white. As a symbol of the dichotomy that Ron represents, at one point light and soft and another dark with rough hard edges. I was very excited to be painting this first piece on aluminum…large and light. There were two things that really changed the game for me in this one. Both had ergonomics at their core. I found that by turning the painting I could reach areas that often were too high or otherwise painful to paint. The other was a bit more mundane but I discovered something called palette paper that was slippery and white and perfect for mixing paints on…simple yet made painting infinitely more enjoyable. I’m not sure where “Ron” will land but the process of this painting has been a big step forward for me as a painter.

Revealing the first Awesome & Awful’s from the Selfie Project

What began as an accidental selfie from my dear friend Tina has grown to encompass many. I am still mid-project with this one but wanted to share progress so far, with many more to follow. I didn’t want this trail to get too cold. And those of you shown here please share my new site with your friends & family…invite them to sign up for my newsletter(HERE) or “like” me on facebook (HERE).

ABOUT

Tom is a self taught artist with more than 35 years experience. Tom’s paintings have been featured in shows in the USA and UK. His work has gained recognition, notoriety and commissions.
His figurative and portrait work focuses on individual self determination. In addition to finding the right subjects for his paintings, he works to bring these paintings and the force that they represent into larger than life perspectives.
Tom lives and paints in Northern California.
Tom Montan
June 13, 2015