Hoagy Scoins
Hoagy Scoins grew up in a household filled with books and music. Family life encouraged reading and learning instruments, but visual art became a private, self-directed practice for him early on. Drawing and painting functioned as a quiet, grounding activity, something he returned to for himself rather than performance or validation. While his mother encouraged him to pursue art college, he initially believed music would be his primary path.
He does not have formal art education beyond high school, a background he now considers an advantage. He describes himself as a practical learner, someone who prefers doing over theorizing. His development as an artist has been shaped largely through commissions, which required close listening, adaptability, and problem-solving under time and financial constraints. Working for clients often pushed him into unfamiliar media or techniques, accelerating learning through necessity rather than abstraction.
Scoins experiments constantly with genres, styles, and materials, balancing artistic curiosity with commercial realities. Collections play an important role in his practice, allowing him to explore ideas or visual languages across multiple works rather than as isolated statements. This approach supports both coherence for clients and deeper investigation for himself. He is particularly drawn to watercolor for its luminosity and speed, while acrylic allows for slower, more deliberate layering. Although interested in oil painting, practical considerations currently limit its use.
A recurring motif in his work is the black-backed gull. The bird appears less as a symbolic decision than an intuitive one, representing adaptability and a sense of freedom within the painting process. He acknowledges the gull’s practicality rather than romantic appeal, an attribute he finds resonant. He has also noticed a tendency to introduce spirals or stripes when overworking a piece, which has become a signal to stop rather than a stylistic goal.
His influences include Edward Hopper, Henry Moore, the Impressionists, Post-Impressionists, and Fauves, alongside a sustained interest in ancient art from prehistory through medieval periods. These references inform his thinking gradually rather than overtly, shaping how he approaches space, form, and restraint.
Scoins maintains a structured studio routine, working in two daily blocks and dedicating Fridays to administrative tasks such as website updates, digitization, and correspondence. He finds creative blocks usually arise from overworking rather than lack of ideas. Separating planning from execution has helped him simplify both his process and results, allowing ideas to surface at appropriate stages without derailing a piece mid-stream.
He does not set out to deliver a fixed message through his work, though freedom remains a core value that continues to surface. His priority is creating work that functions visually and emotionally without forcing interpretation. While financial success and productivity are necessary to sustain his practice, he views improvement as the clearest measure of success. Being able to look back and recognize clearer thinking and greater efficiency matters more to him than external recognition.
What he finds most rewarding are moments of genuine response. Clients have cried upon receiving paintings, paid more than agreed, and expressed long-term connection to the work. For Scoins, knowing a painting will live with someone for years gives the practice a lasting weight. Although collaboration has not been central to his work so far, he remains open to its possibility as his practice continues to evolve.
