Meet Dave Pendleton | Contemporary realist painter & illustrator

We had the good fortune of connecting with Dave Pendleton and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Dave, what do you attribute your success to?
I created this artwork as an exercise in relaxation. I also paint black and white portrait work. My portrait work is detailed and labor and time intensive. During coffee breaks, I would relax my eyes and brain by sketching random stuff. One day, I drew a little robot that reminded me of something I would have built out of old boxes when I was a kid. Eventually, the robot sketches became a character with an identifiable personality. After a Friday evening discussion over wine, my wife and I named the robot, Haiku, and I realized that this work made me really happy. I thought, this will probably make other people happy too.

I think what initially and continues to endear people to this work, to the personality of Haiku, is the simplicity and honesty that the images evoke. Each piece offers a short narrative that is reflective and often nostalgic. The artwork is brief in line and imagery, like a written haiku poem, and the subject of each piece, a small robot, quietly observing familiar objects, offers the viewer a moment to also become a quiet observer.
The last several years will stand out in the memories of those of us who’ve lived it. There’s just been so much, and much of it has been really tough. This artwork allows people to slow down and just breath. It gives permission to reflect and enjoy the beauty of simple things (especially in hard times) without feeling the need to pontificate. Enjoying a good beer or a nice glass of wine while appreciating a small piece of artwork made from wood and paint is a wonderful reprieve from a data driven world gone mad.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
I was born in Pueblo, Colorado and grew up largely in Oklahoma. I attended the University of Oklahoma and studied illustration and design. Towards the end of my college time, I began spending more time on my own creative projects outside of class than on the in class assignments. I wrote the outline for a children’s story simply so that I could illustrate it. I sent the illustrations off to a few publishers who politely declined. I was thrilled to receive even ‘Thank you, but no thank you’ letters from the publishers. At least they’d seen my work.

Every summer, my family spent three weeks on vacation in Denver where my mom’s parents lived. Culturally, Denver was a world apart from my life in Oklahoma. I made up my mind when I was 15 that when I had the means, I’d move to Denver and live where live jazz and art museums had multi-million dollar budgets. I had to wait until I was 29 until that happened. I finally pulled into Denver in the spring of ’99. As I’d done in college, I continued to support my art career with a very happy career in the service industry. The flexibility of a server/bartender schedule allowed me time to gradually transform into the productive artist I wanted to be without starving.

Once I met my wife in 2000, everything changed. With her encouragement during our salad days, and the eventual financial security that her career brought, I came to a point where I was able to spend the great majority of my week in the studio. Over 20 years, I carved out more and more time in the studio. Portrait work was my obsession. I produced work and acquired the occasional commission which only encouraged me more. I was invited to hang a large multi person portrait in the receiving office of the Denver Mayor’s office. On January 1st, 2018, I hung 30 Haiku pieces at Little Machine Brewery in Denver. This artwork was embraced by the community and sales of this work subsidised my studio completely. Once the pandemic lockdowns began in 2019, my time in the studio became a full time job, painting portraits and producing and expanding my Haiku artwork.

Norman Rockwell and Chuck Close influence my portrait work. Charles Schulz and Bill Watterson inspire my Haiku work. The work I produce, the portrait work and the Haiku work, are two sides of the same coin. Both represent my own interests and values and are observations of things I care about. Both are representative of this particular time in history. For both styles of my work, I paint on white gessoed boards that I cradle myself with black acrylic paint. I like the simplicity of that. It allows my daily time in the studio to be streamlined and productive. This allows me to have a balanced life and cultivate other creative parts of my life, like cooking meals nightly for my wife and I. My wife appreciates that too.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
Denver has changed a lot in the last 20 years, but it remains one of my favorite towns in the country! My wife and I live in south Denver, so we’ve become pretty regular in the South Broadway restaurants along South Broadway. When we’re craving margs and tacos, we hit Adelitas on Broadway and Louisiana. La Doña around the corner is part of Adleitas but specializes in mezcal.

If you’re a beer lover, Denver is renowned for its variety of craft breweries, several can be found in the Ring District of Denver where you’ll also find a treasure trove of street art and outdoor wall murals.

Trompeau bakery further south on Broadway offers the best croissants in town. This family owned authentic French bakery offers some of the most authentic French baked items in Denver, this side of Paris.

Dazzle Jazz club is a Denver staple. For a casual evening of live jazz this spot is right down town and is always a good time. If you feel like a more intimate, dress up jazz evening, hit Nocturne in the Ring District. The ghosts of Miles Davis & John Coltrane live there.

The Mayan Theater is the place to order a scotch and take in an indie arthouse flick.

And, once you’ve had your fill of Denver’s chill walkable city streets, head to the mountains and just be.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
Regarding my artistic career, I’ve always had the clear understanding that this is a long game. Choosing the life of a Creative requires desire, curiosity and discipline. These traits in turn must be guided by patience and endurance. These last two life habits, patience and endurance, I learned from my parents (they raised six kids), and are central to how I move forward in life, both in and out of the studio. Those lessons, along with a bottomless pit of love and humor, made me the bloke I am today.

Where my parents left off, the influence of my wife, Sharon, has brought me to another level of clarity and discipline. Sharon is both an educator and a student of words. Her love of poetry gives her a powerful voice that broadcasts honesty and an integrity of intellect and spirit. Everything I do as an artist passes through her prism.

Beyond the impact of my family, I pay attention to the lives of people who’ve come before and have accomplished the thing you want to accomplish is a good idea. I read artist’s biographies and I have writers’ words and artists’ quotes taped to my studio walls. One quote that I glance at daily as I walk into my studio is from Norman Maclean who wrote the book ‘A River Runs Through It’ :

“To him, all good things – trout as well as eternal salvation – came by grace; and grace comes by art; and art does not come easy.”

These words remind me that achieving all things, both divine and practical, will take work.

I’ve also gleaned wisdom from artists as diverse as Chuck Close and Vincent van Gogh who both echoed that all the best ideas come out of the process. By painting, one becomes a painter. Don’t sit waiting for inspiration to strike, just get to work.

I’ve never waited for a divine light to illuminate my path as an artist. I liked drawing and painting so I just got to work.

Ultimately, I’ve kept it simple. I found what I loved to do and committed to doing it for the rest of my life.

Website: robothaiku.com

Instagram: @robothaiku

Twitter: @robothaiku

Facebook: @robothaiku

Other: davependleton.com dave@davependleton.com dave@robothaiku.com