Story Painter Don Cadoret Prepares For This Summer's South Coast Artists Studio Tour [Video]

"Do you mind if I paint while I talk?" he asks, sitting in his Tiverton home studio at a work station, which was a walk-in closet in its past life.

For a man who describes himself as a story painter, it is appropriate that Don Cadoret tells his own tale while wielding a paint brush, and it's a tale that the public can experience themselves at this summer's South Coast Artists Tour.

It starts with a 12-year-old Cadoret and the coloring books which he says fostered and refined his talent for painting. Those coloring books acted as text books for the self-taught artist, and staying within the lines–some of the time–were the only rules he was concerned with.

"I was bored with art class," he says. "I had a classic art teacher that was terrible and not exciting. I figured that I might as well do it on my own."

This approach–called Naïve Art–might have struggled for favor with the high-brow establishment of yore, but institutions like the Museum of American Folk Art in New York, which features Cadoret and other self-taught artists, highlights a greater respect for the genre in contemporary times.

However, Cadoret says he does not strive for that critical acceptance, though with exhibits all over the world and some well-known clientele, he has it.

"I don't get bogged down by the White House or someone like Martha Stewart wanting something," he says. "I'm more thrilled that my friends and neighbors want my work. That excites me. I'm thrilled that I'm able to do this full time. Just paint."

And paint he does. A typical day has Cadoret with brush in hand by 8 a.m. until noon. However, he has been known to paint for 18 hours on some days.

"I paint almost every day of the year," he says. "There’s always something to do."

The majority are commissions which he predicts will occupy him for the next two years.

Considering the artist’s penchant for making his own rules, these commissions are collaborative efforts between him and his buyers. One of his current projects is for a South Carolina family hoping to immortalize their two-year-old in a visual story.

"I have all these videos and elements of the child’s life given to me," he says of the work. "I look at all these disparate things and become inspired with one story that brings all of it together in one painting."

This and Cadoret’s other paintings are an amalgamation of explosive, vibrant color and whimsical figures. And through those figures, his affinity for nature and animals becomes obvious.

"It's rare that I don't have an animal in a painting," he says. "Animals, by being so inhuman, they have no baggage. In a sense, they are pure."

That pureness is a staple of Cadoret’s style. His wife Johanna is a kindergarten teacher who sometimes invites him to visit her class for inspiration. He says it causes him to look at his art through a child’s perspective.

Moreover, he lists children’s books as another influence and is currently working on one, himself.

Yet, regardless of this playful approach to painting, there is an intricate blueprint behind his explosions of colorful whimsy, which he explains as if he were an engineer building a stable foundation.

With chalk, he draws a grid over the top of another work-in-progress – an ode to Little Compton’s signature stone walls. And within the grid, he explains the inclusion of odd numbered elements and achieving visual harmony. It is almost as if he is planting a garden–another of his passions.

"I look at my work as abstract paintings," said Cadoret. "I need a great composition, movement, story and color. All these things must work together."

From walking around his home, it is apparent that his criteria could apply to life in general. It is shelter, workplace and muse.

In his work station stands a shrine–a collage of inspiration. What may seem like clutter is really a meticulously constructed area reminiscent of one of his paintings. Every piece plays a vital role, from the small mouse sculptures to the large Jacob Knight piece which dominates the wall. Even an old box of collar stiffeners provides Cadoret with creative spark.

"There's always something to inspire me," he says.

Just as his life extends from his art, the work space extends into the rest of his home, which is also his gallery. His walls are covered with his work and the works of his peers–a staircase even acts as a surface for painted animal caricatures. He lives in his art.

As both resident and curator of the two story vision located on 23 Reed Street, Cadoret invites the public to tour it on appointment, and every summer, it is one stop on the South Coast Artists Studio tour.

The South Coast Artists are a non-profit group Cadoret helped found with the goal of encouraging greater appreciation and participation in the arts throughout the community.

Last year, he said his home played host to approximately 900 people during a single weekend. Overall, the tour had around 20,000 visitors tour the homes of 70 artists across the regions of Tiverton and Little Compton and Dartmouth and Westport, MA.

This summer’s tour is scheduled for July 16 and 17 and August 20 and 21.

For admirers who cannot attend, Cadoret releases a newsletter five times a year that showcases his latest work for interested consumers.

This work ranges in price from hundreds to thousands of dollars, and while Cadoret understands it may exceed someone’s budget, he frowns at thinking of art in terms of dollar signs.

"The investment in my work is not a monetary investment; it's a personal investment in yourself and your family. It enhances your life. That's the investment."

For evidence of this enhancement, one only needs to see Don Cadoret’s story.

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