Mark Stanford

 Mark Stanford started school …

… on the East Coast of Florida in the mid 1960's. He remembers how Florida used to look before all the construction and development and as a Florida landscape artist uses these memories to create landscape compositions that are inspired by the artistic stylings of A.E. Backus, whom he was first exposed to in 2004 and has been greatly inspired by.

Mark started out painting Florida Landscapes in 2004 with a palette knife in oils. He was introduced to the Highwaymen art a couple of years prior and then to A.E. Backus paintings. Mark loved A.E. Backus oils, especially the old palette knife works of art. Backus painted slowly and in detail. Mark's initial intent with painting was to try to paint like Backus' early works with a palette knife and paint Florida how it used to be from Mark's childhood memories for his own home.

The pandemic closed all the art shows, putting this artist out of business. While there were unemployment funds this artist could have taken; instead, Mark decided to sell paintings where he started selling, on eBay. He named this series of paintings, Lost Year Art and under his signature inscribed LYA in most of the paintings.

Mark's desire for his art these days is to paint high-quality oil paintings with a Palette Knife. He takes his time and paints with detail and colors, surprise colors not expected, and light versus dark for dramatic effect. Mark still prefers to paint with a palette knife, though he often paints with brush as some of his clients prefer that type of painting. He almost always uses thick paint for a tactile dimension and interesting effect.

Mark always signs his artwork with a broken leg M and his last name. The broken leg is for his faultiness. By 2012, Mark began dating all his paintings (some dates are hidden under the frames) and eventually added a Fish under his signature. The fish represents him being a follower of Jesus, the Christ, in whom Mark gives all the credit for his ability to paint. Recently in his name, the F has the appearance of a Shepard's Hook and the T is the Cross.

Mark has sold to collectors all over the country including California, New Mexico, Colorado, Arizona, New Jersey, Connecticut, New York, Michigan, Illinois, North and South Carolina, Georgia, Arkansas, Virginia, Hawaii, Alabama, Texas, lowa. Oklahoma, New Hampshire, Oregon, Virgin Islands and Florida. He routinely completes many commissioned works and has also completed a mural in a home.