Welcome to my gallery section. Here is a collection of the sketches and paintings I have done since 2005. They are broken down by year and type. To view more, select a year and either Paintings or Sketches.
If you are interested in purchasing a painting, please email me.
Steve’s unique style is a combination of the expressive quality of impasto painting with the fluidity of the sumi brush style. A style he calls “Sumi-Impasto”. He uses acrylic paint with a heavy medium to add body, along with different types of cake decorating tips to create unique textures.
“Most of my ideas for paintings come when I am out hiking or driving down some winding scenic road. I take note of the textures and forms. I look at how they relate to each other and how they go back in space and intertwine. I want to draw the viewer into my paintings by literally having the paint reach out to them.”
I am also a web developer. TaoMonkey.com has been a place to try out and learn new techniques. Every part of this site has been hand-crafted and coded by me. This site is fully responsive and is recommended to view at different browser widths to get the full feel of the responsive effect.
That is a good question. I have always been interested in Chinese culture. From their style of painting and composition, to the philosophy. One in particular. Taoism. I learned a bit about it in my Chinese Culture class in college. Then on my first cross-country roadtrip, I brought with me various books on Eastern philosophy including a copy of the Tao Te Ching. I enjoyed meditating on the chapters, while watching the campfire flicker and under a full desert moon. Click here to learn more about Lao Tsu and read all 81 chapters of the Tao Te Ching.
And the monkey part? Monkeys are cute. They are also symbols of cleverness or wisdom in the eastern cultures and appear in many Chinese fictions. One of my favorite stories, “Journey to the West”.
"Shelter in Place" orders for a pandemic means I have extra time on my hands to tinker with TaoMonkey.com.
So, what's new?
Well, I repositioned the Gallery buttons to be right under the top navbar. Choose either a Year or Series and Paintings or Sketches of that year.
That, caused a whole bunch of cascading errors with old, deprecated code from long forgotten API's. Which, in turn, made me rewrite the code from scratch because I had nothing better to do. =]
Want to see more? I have started an Instagram account to show my painting process. Follow Me on Instagram.
November 14 - December 28, 2018: I have the privilege of Showing 22 of my paintings in the halls of the corporate office of Cartus.
August 1 - August 31, 2018: I exhibited with artists Joanna Lucas and Chris DellaRocco at RadArts in Oxford, CT.
May 1 - May 31, 2018: I am honored to be the first artist to get to display their paintings at the new Java Haus in New Milford, CT.
January 9 - February 13, 2017: Showing a few select paintings at Mothership Bakery and cafe at 331 Main Street Danbury, CT.
March 5 - April 2, 2017: Will be exhibiting some new paintings and some old favorites at Bank Street Coffee House at 56 Bank Street New Milford, CT.
June 1 – June 30, 2017 I will be showing at The Sweet Spot 60 Railroad St, New Milford, CT.
July 1 – July 29, 2017 "Flora and Fauna" at Moltan Java. I will be showing with the talented Lacee Yurtoglu. I will provide the "Flora" and she will exhibit some of her "Fauna" imagery 213 Greenwood Ave, Bethel, CT 06801. Opening Reception July 8th 8-10pm.
August 12th, 2017 I will be participating in the New Milford ArtWalk. A town-wide art fair where artists and businesses join up to show off their crafts. I will be paired with Robertson's Jewelers at 2 Bank St, New Milford, CT 06776 from 1-5pm.
October 30 – December 29, 2017 Exhibit at ESCAPE to the Arts at 293 Main Street Danbury, CT 06810. Opening Reception November 17th 7-9PM.
Presented as a part of the Accessible Art Program of the Cultural Alliance of Western Connecticut
Steve Bean possesses the soul of a wanderer. When stationary for too long, he begins to feel the call of the open road. Steve grew up spending most of his time either outside playing in nature or inside drawing and imagining other worlds to explore. He started painting in high school when he bought his first airbrush. He kept at it through his college years at Western Connecticut State University, where he earned his Bachelor of the Arts in Illustration and Painting. Since graduating, Steve has continued his own education and sought inspiration by exploring the U.S. National Parks from Acadia, Maine to Denali, Alaska.