By Christopher

Christopher Stott is a contemporary realist painter.

Works in Progress

I have a room in my basement where I prep and store canvas, and box up finished paintings before I send them off on their journeys to other lands. Right now it’s kind of intimidating walking in to the room because I’m greeted by way to much blank canvas.

Over the next 3.5 months I have to complete at least 15 paintings, and in order to do so I have had to employ serious organizational skills.

Below is a glimpse at one piece in progress, an old Remington No.10 typewriter. Last summer I took my family to visit my grandparents and the town was holding their annual summer festival. They open up the buildings of a heritage village — a collection of buildings, like the old town hall, the doctor’s house, blacksmith, church, schoolhouse, etc. — all reassembled to form an idealized main street from the past. In one building they have an old-tech graveyard where heaps of adding machines and typewriters sit abandoned for what will likely be the rest of eternity. That’s where I step in. To the confusion and amusement of the committee responsible for the buildings, I convinced them to lend me several pieces, and will likely return again and again.

Happy Busy New Year!

The first half of 2011 is going to be one of the busiest 6 months of my life. I have a stack of commissions I’m working on, many of which I’ll share here in a few months, and I’ll be working on 20 new paintings for another solo exhibition in June at the EFG.

I’ll do the best I can and share some images of work in progress as I go along.

I hope you had a great holiday season and Happy New Year! Now back to work…



1¢ Gumballs


1¢ Gumballs
40″ x 30″ — Oil/Canvas — 2010
• Sold (Collection of J.Crew)

This has been a familiar theme of mine for the last several years. There’s something to behold with these large scale bubble gum machines. There’s no way you can tell while looking at the 2.5″ thumbnail on your computer screen, but this painting is large. The vibrant blue of the machine and the mutli-colored gumballs pull me in.

I can distinctly remember how quickly gum would lose its flavor when I was a kid. But still, seeing a vending machine was always exciting and worth every penny. I guess the best thing about recreating them in paintings is that it helps the flavor last much, much longer in my memory.

Uppercase Magazine

This past August I did an interview for Uppercase Magazine, and the issue (#7) is now available. The magazine features creative professionals from many different backgrounds, and you are bound to learn something new and be impressed and inspired by the image-rich layout and design. It’s more like a book than a magazine. And I was excited to participate.

I’m keeping rather busy working on numerous paintings, many of which will be in my June 2011 solo show at the Elliott Fouts Gallery.

A note to anyone interested in the paintings: please contact the gallery — [email protected] — to get on their mailing list if you want to see the paintings first. I won’t be sharing them until early spring on this blog. However, you can look forward to some in-progress/studio documentation of the pieces in their unfinished stages.

I hope you have a great November!

Three Vintage Fans & American Art Collector Magazine


Three Vintage Fans
30″ x 48″ — Oil/Canvas — 2010
• Sold

The painting above is one of three that I’ll have participating in the upcoming Still Life exhibition in October at the Elliott Fouts Gallery. The show will feature paintings from many artists that I’m familiar with, including; Teresa N. Fischer, Craig Stephens, Katherine Lemke Waste, Derek Gores, Paul Coventry-Brown, Sally Tharp, Philippe Gandiol, Donald Bradford, Daryl Gortner, Neil Hollingsworth, Alvin Richard, Shawn Kenney and Otto Lange.

The show is being promoted in the October 2010 issue of American Art Collector magazine. Click on the bottom image to read the article.

Type A, Type B & Popular Etiquette

I was having a conversation with Cynthia, an art consultant at the Elliott Fouts Gallery, about one of my paintings. Apparently someone was looking at one of my unruly stacks of books and said they’d constantly be compelled to organize the books, straighten them out and make a tidy pile.

I like hearing about how different people interpret my paintings. And the idea occurred to me then to honor different personality types and how they relate to each other and can be integrated in to the same relationship, or paintings, in this case.

Type A, Type B
Type A, Type B / 20 x 36 / oil on canvas / 2010
Type B, Type A / 20 x 36 / oil on canvas / 2010
Type B, Type A / 20 x 36 / oil on canvas / 2010

A good friend of mine brought me an old paperback re-print of a Victorian era Popular Etiquette Book. Leafing through it, I have to say that although there are definitely missing virtues in today’s world, Victorian’s really made things uncomfortable for themselves with the litany of rigid rules and guidelines to follow.

Popular Etiquette / 16 x 20 / oil on canvas / 2010
Popular Etiquette / 16 x 20 / oil on canvas / 2010

40 & Under

The 40 & Under show is up at the Elliott Fouts Gallery and runs until September 3. If you’re in the Sacramento area, be sure to check it out. There are some great artists participating and I’m honored to be sharing the gallery space with them.

I’ve been trying to balance working in the studio and enjoying the summer. Every other week we’re out visiting family, going to weddings, the lake, the park or pool all day long… every year that’s a serious challenge for me as I’m always excited and anxious to keep things burning along on the easel. Breaks are needed of course, it’s the frequency that drives me a bit nuts.