Born in Baltimore County, Maryland, Scott Royston was educated in the Baltimore County Public School System through the ninth grade. In September 1990, out of 500 applicants, he was one of 90 accepted into the Baltimore School for the Arts, located in downtown Baltimore City. He graduated in June 1993 with a degree in visual arts.
Petunias, oil, 12 in.
Royston primarily paints realistic florals and still lifes set against plain backdrops, further accentuating his subjects. He often works in a Trompe l’oeil style, as seen in his oil Pointe, depicting a pair of ballet slippers surrounded by a gray wooden frame.
“My inspiration for this piece comes from my years at Baltimore School for the Arts, along with also being a figure skater. I wanted to make this a Trompe l’oeil piece inside of a frame to give it depth. The Victorian wallpaper puts this piece in a certain period of time, which correlates with the piece,” he says.
Pointe, oil, 20 x 10 in.
Another Trompe l’oeil piece, Tassels, depicts a colorful bunch of tassels tied together, backed by bright pink, floral wallpaper. “I tried different backgrounds and really liked this hot pink type of backdrop, which I later added to the Victorian style wallpaper design to help to give the piece life and go along with the element of the painting,” Royston adds.
He Got Game, oil, 26 x 22 in.
Petunias is a circular composition of a cluster of white flowers punctuated by a stark black background. “I’ve done many petunia paintings in the past, and I wanted to try something rounded this time,” he says. “Giving it a simple dark backdrop, I put together my piece with different levels of flora to represent foreground, middle ground and background to give depth. A few insects are added in, as well as dewdrops, making this a very contemporary classical piece.”
Tassels, oil, 12½ x 8½ in.
Royston is a signature member of the American Artists Professional League and a master signature member of Oil Painters of America. He currently lives in Nottingham, Maryland, near Baltimore. —
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