LUKE BUCK continued from 37 now contracts to have the prints made, since Mill Pond has gone out of business. Though he works in several mediums, most of Luke’s paintings are watercolors, a medium in which he feels he has most control. He does some plein air paintings, but mostly works from photographs, and all of his landscapes are actual places. “I am faithful to technical aspects of the paintings,” he said, “but I also want to give it some artistic flair.” To do that, he takes a realistic subject and adds some romanticism, making it more appealing. A happy childhood is sometimes transferred to his artwork, as he puts emotions and memories into his work. “I might make something a little more rusty than it actually is, or a little more shiny.”
40 Our Brown County • July/August 2020
Among the things that make his work unique are the vignettes he paints as he lets watercolors run free at the bottom of some of his paintings. “I call them vignettes because it sounds better than drippy-downy things,” he said, and he uses them on about half of his work. “It softens the work, makes it more interesting and less mechanical.” He also presses a fingerprint into his work near the signature, a technique he borrowed from Salvador Dali. Norman Rockwell and Andrew Wyeth were among his early influences, and in later years he worked with, influenced, and was influenced by contemporary artists he knew. He is a member of the Brown County Art Guild, and has exhibited at the Brown County Art Gallery. “Brown County is my heart,” he said, an association he has enjoyed throughout the years. Luke’s father once advised him to paint, not to please others, but to please each artist’s toughest critic, himself. “Satisfy yourself with a painting. If you’re happy, others will be happy too.” Luke Buck can be reached at P.O. Box 216, Nineveh, Indiana, 46164, 317-933-2654, or at <lukebuckart@aol.com>. His website is <www.lukebuckart.com>.
