Daily Press Writer
MONTROSE — For Robert Meyers, the light at the end of the tunnel comes when he finishes his latest masterpiece: acryllic paintings and pastel sketches.
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“On some level, art allows us to release grief,” he said. “ I have seen, felt and smelled the third realm.” Meyers said his inspiration for art comes from God and is portrayed as light in his work.
Born in Missouri to artist parents, he has lived throughout the United States and his career started after high school when he lived in Hawaii while attending college.
“I first started painting murals on the street,” he said. “I would take any kind of job and that is how I got started.”
His art features no people or animals, only nature and light. He has completed hundreds of paintings and sketches; most he sells from his Web site, www.robertmeyers.com. He has also licensed art to Leanin’ Tree Gift Card Company and Portal Publications.
“To me, art is not for decorating, it’s not to just fill that void above the coffee table,” he said.
So far he has licensed eight of his paintings to be used on Leanin’ Tree greeting cards and he is working on his ninth. In addition to recent sales, he has installed several private and commercial pieces on the East Coast.
“The hardest thing is to keep doing it,” he said. “Despite my success, there are denials and rejections.”
He landed in Montrose in the most unusual way. He was living in Seattle and decided to move on, so he went to visit a friend in Telluride.
“Basically, I was a nomad looking for a new place to live,” Meyers said. “But I didn’t like Telluride so I tried Ridgway.”
Meyers had a very difficult time finding a place to live in Ridgway. He wanted a small cottage-type place with great light to help inspire his work. However, anytime he went to rent a location, someone else ended up getting it before him. But he did find one spot just perfect for him, the Ouray Hot Springs.
“My friend told me about the pools, so I went to check it out,” he said. “For me to swim once was like $6 but I could get an annual pass for $90 so I went for the pass. Then I figured I better get my money’s worth and I ended up staying.”
Although the hot springs served as his perfect respite, he still could not find a home that suited him, so he camped and kept his paintings in storage.
“I spent six months camping out in the wilderness,” he said. “I was just van camping and selling my paintings over the Internet. One month I made over $10,000.” While living in the woods, he would come to Montrose often to pick up supplies, and eventually found his future wife, Valerie Kirby-Meyers.
“One day I had to go to Wal-Mart and get some stuff for my artwork and I met Valerie,” he said with a smile. “I gave her my card and I didn’t hear from her for a week. Then she called and two weeks later we got married. I was 49 and had never been married, I had never met the right person before.”
The couple had their son Lucas two-and-a-half years ago. Valerie also has a 13-year-old son, Jacob from a previous marriage.
Their home serves as the perfect studio for his work. The cream colored walls and wooden floors, uncluttered surrounds, serve as a serene canvas for his creations. His paintings adorn almost every wall and in the bedroom is a large acryllic of Hawaii he painted for his wife. He stays at home with Lucas and said his work will pick up once Lucas goes to preschool.
“It’s hard getting stuff done,” he said. “I used to think only God was omnipresent. But Lucas is pretty good at it too. I go to do something and he disappears, it can get kind of scary with all this paint around.”
Meyers is convinced his son will be an artist too.
“Recently Lucas got one of my finished paintings,” he said. “He took red paint to it. Luckily, I had already varnished it so the paint wiped right off.”
His studio, one bay of the family’s garage, is small, but beaming with all kinds of his creations. Scenic shots of the ocean, mountain peaks and river streams hang on the walls. A large sheet, speckled with paint, is tacked to one wall and a large acryllic painting of the ocean sits in front. Blue water is topped with a lavender sky highlighted with a golden light.
“Painting can be hard,” he said. “Even if you have a great idea, trying to get it to work with a paint brush can be very difficult. Think about it, you are trying to get this external obstacle to do exactly what you want. My favorite tools are fingers and sponges.”
In addition to his national fans, Meyers has culled a local following as well. John Ruybal met Meyers in the last couple of years and fell in love with his work.
“His artwork is very different than anything I have seen before,” Ruybal said. “Its just fantastic. He uses great colors and the paintings are just luminescent.” Ruybal has purchased two paintings from Meyers and has commissioned him to do a third.
Meyers thinks art can be an important aspect of many lives and from that notion teaches children.
“I have known so many people with like five years of formal education from places like Harvard,” he said. “But then they get done and they go live in their parents’ basement and wait for the inheritance. There is so much in life we can learn to do, things we can experience and express. We are surrounded by inspiration.”
Kaitlyn Heichel wrote on Nov 3, 2009 2:01 PM:
Sarah Bond wrote on Jul 13, 2009 5:31 PM: