Mark Harmon oil paint on canvas artist

Mark Harmon oil paint on canvas artist with a love of travel you combine it so well in your landscape paintings and famous iconic sites from different places you have lived in. Share your creative experiences and methods that have brought success throughout your career.

My journey started with the essentials, a tent, and art supplies everything I needed is in my backpack. I ventured to three Latin American countries, Mexico, Belize, and Guatemala. I didn't know Spanish at the time but immersion and needing to resolve things in spanish turned out to be a great teacher. Mexico was where I stayed the longest for nine years. During that time, I had my own home, met my wife who was the director of an art museum, overall, many positive experiences took place in Mexico that I'm grateful for. I made a living selling my paintings and teaching art courses to students at a university.

As a professor, the advice I shared was to focus, compete, strive for the best, and perfect yourself. What amazed me the most is how corporative students are with each other. Any student struggling, a classmate(s) would help them pick up speed, no one is left behind. It’s so different compared to Us competitiveness. Their culture seems to foster less competition and a more corporative society, I wonder. Nonetheless, very impressed in the teamwork and the extraordinary work my students created.

After Mexico, I moved to the city of Tarragona, Spain inspired by the art community, historical sites, and cities, I continued to create art and sell my paintings. Each time I move to a new environment what has helped me in my journey is to step away from isolation and into public spaces such as central plazas, open studios, or parks to create my artwork. I prefer an open space to interact, make work part of the world, and allow people to watch. I believe people deserve to see the process and it's a great way to meet new people. I usually select locations that are inspiring, beautiful, where people are around.

A friend I met there, Tito Figueras a well known landscape painter, took me under his wing and we’d jumped in his car and drive to plein air painting contests on weekends. So generous of him to bring more competition along! We did pretty well and made each other better. Sometimes he’d win, sometimes I’d win and sometimes we’d commiserate.. additional earnings and it's fun! I enjoyed competition and traveling to little towns and cities throughout the region.

Though my paintings capture beautiful tourist sites and landscapes, I aim to avoid the cliché instead strive to bring out the beauty of often ignored details, alleyways, textures from buildings focusing beyond traditional beauty, and getting closer to hidden gems that people don't always notice. Painting the textures, worn stone, wire fence, and brick from older structures throughout the city of Barcelona, and marks left behind such as graffiti art, and other markings tell a story.

Finding beauty in unexpected corners is captivating. Pay attention to the world, you’ll never get bored. As an adventure, traveler, painter, and professional I believe that the key is to connect with the community and artists and enjoy the real rewards of painting which is being present and enjoy the process of painting.

Back from Spain two years ago, my studio is located in Asheville NC, at the River Studio, open to visitors from morning till 5 pm. Feel free to visit. When I’m not in my public studio painting, then I’m outside painting.

Thank you, Mark Harmon your creative skills and outlook gobeyond the beauty of famous landmarks to more of what catches the eye at first glance. I appreciate you, and your dedication is engaging.