DATE: Sunday, November 2, 1997              TAG: 9710310309

SECTION: CAROLINA COAST          PAGE: 16   EDITION: FINAL 

COLUMN: CREATIVE LICENSE 

SOURCE: Mary Ellen Riddle 

                                            LENGTH:   60 lines

BRYAN'S REALISTIC PAINTINGS BEAUTIFY THE COMMONPLACE

WHEN I MOVED to the Outer Banks, it took time to adjust to the landscape. As a rural Connecticut transplant, I found more lushness and lilting curves in the Southern speech than in the coastal environment. In time I began to see multicolors hidden in the dune line and the white marshmallow petals flickering in sunlight against earth-toned wetlands.

If I had been lucky enough to see the oil paintings of Nags Head artist Don Bryan during that period, the transition would have been much smoother.

Bryan, 73, paints coastal scenes in oils, beautifying the commonplace. The retired Air Force colonel has been called a realistic painter because his images are easy to identify.

``People say it's real, almost photographic, but it's not,'' he said. ``Representational paintings still can symbolize things.''

Painting from memory, Bryan created a husband, wife and son working together at their family fish-packing business. The setting is highlighted by sunlight streaming through a wood-framed window; the essential trawler is docked nearby. The handling of the human form and other elements is accurate without being obvious.

``It symbolizes the life in that area - a deeper meaning than the scene itself,'' Bryan said.

Understanding the representational part is easy with Bryan. He paints scenes with planes, boats and fisherfolk, or a delicate still life of fruit. But try to isolate what makes his works ``feel'' real and you'll have about as much success as a Medieval alchemist.

Each facet of the work: color, form, composition, perspective, paint application and atmosphere is integrally bound together. This sense of ``soulful oneness'' also was characteristic of the 19th century English painter Joseph Turner, who, like Bryan, worked from memory and exhibited a mastery over color.

``I have never owned a tube of black paint,'' Bryan said. To squeeze out a dollop of carbon black would limit him. He relishes the myriad warm, cold, greenish and vibrating blacks he produces by creating them from scratch. His color choices illustrate the interaction of light and hue on form. The work seems more realistic than a photo-realistic painting because of these subtle sensitivities.

Bryan studied for three years under a German knife painter while stationed overseas in the Air Force. That's the only formal art training he's had. He immediately had success selling his work when he returned to the states.

Bryan no longer has to squeeze his painting and drawing around his military career. He works it as a full-fledged second career.

``I do it as a job,'' he said. ``I don't have to be inspired to paint.''

He has 40 to 50 paintings on display in a host of Outer Banks galleries, including Greenleaf galleries in Duck and Nags Head, Seaside galleries in Nags Head and Corolla, Caiman Gardens in Manteo and periodically at the Ghost Fleet Gallery in Nags Head.

Bryan accepts commissions and may be contacted at 480-2414. ILLUSTRATION: Photo by MARY ELLEN RIDDLE

Don Bryan infuses a romantic spirit in his oil paintings of common

coastal scenes.

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