David Holland Works

Oklahoma City, Oklahoma

“The sky has always held a special place in my life.  The same sky exists no matter where your location on Earth, and as a child I moved many times to new locations with my active military family.   Wherever I was though, each place had a familiar sky with familiar clouds I could watch to make me feel at home. 

Oklahoma is where I was born in 1959 and Oklahoma City is where I landed for good in 1977.  The skies I watch here are among the most varied and entertaining to be found anywhere in the world.  With weather information available from my local forecasters, I remain aware of where and when storms might materialize.  When the conditions are ripe, I head to one of the locations I’ve staked out with unobstructed views of the sky.  I often take more than a hundred images during each outing, so when I’m back in the studio I can look through the pictures for the most dynamic ones that say to my eyes “paint me!”.

I relish my time spent observing developing storms.  They have a timeless mysterious beauty that show the undeniable powerful force of nature that I work to capture in my paintings.  I consider each painting a portrait of an individual storm caught at a single moment in time with accurate details that work to present its unique personality, and engage the viewer with color, depth, detail and drama.  My goal is to place the view there at that moment.      

I see storms as a blessing.  They provide water, the building block of all life on Earth.  They are the vehicle by which life on Earth is sustained. 

Recent exhibitions of my work include the Oklahoma Hall of Fame, the Governor’s Gallery, Mainsite Contemporary Art Gallery, Science Museum Oklahoma, the National Weather Center, the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum, and the Myriad Botanical Gardens.  I’m represented by the Howell Gallery in Oklahoma City. “

David was born in Lawton Oklahoma in 1959 into an Army family; so he traveled extensively as a child, living on bases in Oklahoma, Kansas, Japan, Idaho, Maryland and Arkansas before his family permanently settled in Oklahoma City in 1977.  His lifelong interest in creating art began at an early age and during his career he has created multiple series of artworks.  He’s now known best for using lush color and heightened contrast to paint dramatic cloudscapes in his own realistic style.