The depths of Tom Butler are such a beautiful surprise.

The 40-year-old Chesapeake native insists he’s just a happy-go-lucky guy; and generally, I believe him. I believe him that when he was laid off from his job last year, he shrugged it off and counted his blessings rather than his misfortunes. I believe him that when someone cuts him off on the road, he does indeed say to himself simply, “Well, they probably just made a mistake.”

And it is because I believe him that his paintings are all the more extraordinary. They have a presence and a feeling not unlike a Mark Rothko–an artist who Butler admires–the way they seem to both hover on the wall and draw you into their depth. His painting Crying Fields, he told me, was inspired by a program he saw on television about slaves here in Hampton Roads being led up into the fields in chains. The streets were stained with their blood. Butler’s painting has the power to reflect the weight of all of that; and yet, you can believe that he truly is just a happy-go-lucky guy.

A detail of Dissesion.

What is your day job? My day job is currently for a major insurance company, which doesn’t leave much room for creativity, but currently pays the bills, until art can be full time.

How did you first pick up the brush? Ever since I was a kid I always creative. I have been a musician for most of my life, but there came a point in life where it all seemed to fall apart. Afterwards I became very depressed not having that creative outlet, and instead of falling into every other trap most people fall into, I began painting, and fell madly in love with it; everything about it–the process, the beauty–and it allowed me to feel whole.

Do you still use painting to work through your emotions and things that are happening to you in your life? To a certain degree I do. I think you can definitely see in each painting where I was mentally that day, although I feel music really helps me fall into a mood. For example I often listen to Jeff Buckley while I paint. For some reason his music really opens up my creativity. Although if I listen to heavier music like hard rock and what not, a totally different feel comes out. I’m a pretty emotional person, so if I’m upset, painting really calms me down and balances me out. I’m not an angry person whatsoever, so most of my paintings are just out of a deep emotional place. Most of my paintings are inspired from others’ expierences, hardships, or love, and how it affects me. I’m pretty empathetic, so it doesn’t take much for me to feel you.

Did you go to school? I actually didn’t go to school for art, I always felt that too much knowledge would hinder my creativity. I didn’t want rules. I  just wanted to experiment and find my own way. I feel it’s much more organic that way.

How does your instinct, in lieu of a formal art education, guide your process of creating? I feel art is organic and internal. I think my instincts are pretty good. I will ponder and dissect how and why something will work or will not work before applying it.

Describe your process of art-making. I ALWAYS have music going–different music brings out different things in me when painting. I started in oils, and got very frustrated on the lag time between the next step I needed to do. I moved on to acrylics and mixed media to develop texture, and loved how the laws of gravity would do things I could do myself. Most of my artwork is total exploration and expirimentation.

A detail of Crying Fields.

Describe your evolution from oils to acrylics. I started with oils, and had to move onto acrylics out of being impatient waiting for paint to dry. Although oils react to things much differently than acrylics, I paint every single day, so having to wait a week to move on wasn’t working for me.

What inspires your compositions? Your color palette? I get inspired from many areas–mostly from things. I witness, whether it be sad, exciting, loving, horrific, it all comes down to how it made me feel that day. Also I get very inspired from others’ work; artists that you strive to be as good as. Certain artists move me, and have so much emotion in their work with very little color. As far as my color palette, I am moved more from certain colors than others. I’m very much into earthy tones, reds, siennas, oranges. Most of my paintings include red somewhere in them. I feel reds and earth tones have much more emotion in them.

Do you think you’ve found your voice or is your style ever-changing? My style constantly evolves; I would say changes, but definitely evolves. I will lay in bed at times and ponder, “What if I try to do this?” And sometimes I will get up, go to my studio in my home, and just try it, unaware of how it may come out.

How long does it take you to finish a canvas? When do you know it’s done? It ranges from painting to painting as far as how long; some are in a day, some are in a month. Depends on how long it takes me to figure out how to achieve what I want. As strange as it sounds, I will paint and paint and paint until I get a very distinct feeling over me. I know that sounds odd but I kinda let my soul tell me when I’m done.

Tom Butler’s paintings can be seen at Walls Fine Art in downtown Norfolk and in aLoft Hotel in Chesapeake. Check out more of his work here. He can be reached via email at tbutler20008@gmail.com.