MECOSTA COUNTY – Seth Adams is a visual artist with a passion for a specific style of painting on an unusual canvas.
Having been interested in art and drawing throughout his life, Adams has progressed from drawing to spray painting stencils on old gray wooden boards. He worked in a pallet factory and saw these cool boards being nailed onto pallets. He started putting them aside, not sure what he was going to do with them until he decided to delve into spray paint stencils.
“It’s painted on the boards. I mostly paint on old gray wood, barn wood from the wild west ghost town, so that’s about all I paint on,” he said.
He first made a friend’s portrait to practice before switching from spray paint to acrylics, although he still uses a stencil.
For more work by Seth Adams, visit manisteenews.com
“Most of them are just black paint on gray wood. I think that’s kind of unique. I don’t work with color very often,” Adams said.
In the past, he says he’s used color every five or six projects to “mix things up.” He also did some illustration-style portraits with a more in-depth process.
One of his favorite pieces is a Marilyn Monroe painting that weighs almost 80 pounds.
“I think one of the things I like about it is that it’s kind of impractical, it’s almost impossible to hang on the wall. It’s just a cool object. It’s hard to figure out what to do with it,” Adams explained.
He has not yet shown his art in exhibitions or local projects, but he sells his work to friends and family who want paintings.
“I can’t find them anywhere in the world, so I just make them,” Adams said.
Adams compared it to a musician who only makes the music they want to hear because his paintings are his specific style and he’s not worried about “making it big” and trying to be a full-time artist.
During the day, Adams carries out civil works, building levees and conversions. Then he goes home to his world of creativity and art.
He is perfectly content to keep this as a hobby and just do it to make himself happy. Adams said he could do a show and sell some of his paintings, of which he has about 30, but he doesn’t feel the price he could fetch at a show would match the value he gives them in his attaches spirit.
“I could do a show, but I don’t think the price they would get is higher than the price I estimate for them,” Adams said. “Do the things you enjoy when you’re having fun, cool, if not, you still have a pretty cool pastime.”
Visit instagram.com/mecostacountylongwingers to see Adam’s work.
