Wandering artist Joey Doolan returns to Hilton Head

The talented Hilton Head artist Joey Doolan, peripatetic and well traveled, has been creating art throughout the country, and well beyond for more than 30 years.

His redolent mural work is focused on offering a natural setting that creates amazing suggestions about atmosphere and generously offering a moment in time. Then, in another of his riveting aesthetic focuses, whether a carefully stated piece of Trompe L’Oeil, or a faux finishing accomplishment, his successes are over the top. A trick of the eye, or a total re-representation, he offers jaw dropping outcomes.

There is a possibility that you have seen, walked by or have been seated near any number of Doolan’s far reaching visual accomplishments - over time and around the country.

You will find some impressive illuminations in the Grace Cathedral in San Francisco. While in San Francisco, he also set his artistic gifts toward the production of a series of boutique hotels. Later, in Chicago, he created panels based on original frescoes of The Gardens of Alexandria from Pompeii. In Sydney, Australia, he focused on doing private mural work in homes and other settings. A variety of hotels, restaurants galleries and museums exhibit his work throughout Europe, too.

Closer to home, you might have enjoyed some of Doolan’s Lowcountry inspired pieces in restaurants, golf clubs and planned communities. It is also quite possible that you have seen his work in historical locations, and in private and public residences throughout the greater Lowcountry, all the way up to Charleston.

The famous Greek revival home, Riceboro, in Georgia, demonstrates an amazing outcome in his work as artist and artisan.

Last week, Doolan confirmed that he was seriously beginning to give up his Aristotelian, place to place, peripatetic artist’s life in favor of creating fine art work at his Hilton Head home/studio.

“I’ll spend more creative and quality time, totally focused on my oil paintings,” said Doolan. “I’ll enjoy my early mornings at my easel, catching the rays of the morning sun, right here on the island.”

He also mentioned that he was adding a brand new pair of Rhodesian Ridgeback puppies, Maya and Levi, to his island setting.

Doolan, now painting almost daily in his Point Comfort studio, pointed out that the transition to fine art was really more in name only, not as much to do with the process.

“The murals I have created for a very long time, unlike the work of many muralists who paint directly on the planned surfaces, are painted on canvas, then affixed to the locations we designate,” said Doolan.

“My painting process, start to finish, involves all of my oil painting background and techniques. When my painting is complete, we simply mount it on a wall, instead of framing it.”

He displays a complete mastery of his medium - the ambient blend of vibrant color and the layered application of wax and pigment.

Doolan, who holds a degree in graphic design, from the University of Georgia and a Master of Fine Art from SCAD, was focused on computer and design work at the beginning of his career.

Over the years he enjoyed building for himself a series of new and changing iterations.

How perfect for him, the peripatetic artist for all of those years, to construct a new future focused on painting phenomenally exquisite, oil paintings, right here on Hilton Head.

This story was originally published June 22, 2016 at 10:40 AM with the headline "Wandering artist Joey Doolan returns to Hilton Head."