A Bit About Me

A decade of paintings from Crayonbreaking Art, LLC!

Lucas has always loved drawing, especially because of his love of cars. He graduated from the University of Northern Colorado with a degree in Art Education. Born in Seoul, South Korea, Lucas was adopted by a loving family in Colorado. He grew up making art from an early age in Boulder. Having Cerebral Palsy Left Hemiplegia, he does not let it stop him from creating. In 2015, he expanded his art mediums to acrylic painting on canvas. Lucas enjoys painting landscapes, cityscapes, animals, and portraits.

Being able to sit down at my easel and listen to music while I pour my emotions, hopes, and memories on canvas using my paint brush is an amazing feeling. Many of the locations in my paintings are places that I wish to visit and those with special personal meaning. Emotion and movement are important to my work. Most of my landscapes and cityscapes show people going about their days, rain or shine.

My paintings have been inspired by modern, everyday life: both busy cities and quiet natural settings. Taking a snapshot of night out on the town or out in the country, my paintings will hopefully immerse the viewer into these scenes.

And, those who understand/know the meaning behind my company name, know the meaning of "crayonbreaking" and where it is from. Do you? I get the question from many people about my art being created in crayon. But, obviously they are acrylic paint on canvas.

Lucas has sold artwork to many individuals and companies around the world. He has also sold prints and originals to companies through ArtLifting. Most of these have new homes. Some are available as prints or original canvas paintings through ArtLifting.

Through ArtLifting, Lucas was commissioned to create a series of paintings for Merck, a company dedicated to bringing forward medicines and vaccines for many of the world’s most challenging diseases. These paintings were inspired by Merck's history, culture, and values. He began working on this project in late March 2020 and completed it in October. He is very proud of what he created for Merck's employees to enjoy and be inspired by. This project was a great experience, and he enjoyed delving into Merck’s accomplishments. Lucas was so honored to be asked to do this project for a company that’s so dedicated to helping patients.

Dontnod Entertainment (video game company) has recognized Lucas' fandom of their video game Life is Strange and his painting of the fictional town, Arcadia Bay.

- "Living in the Moment" was featured on all of Dontnod's social media.

Merck & Co., Inc
NBC Studios - at 30 Rock
Twitter: - Boulder, Colorado corporate office.
Staples: commissioned Luke to paint several pieces and ordered several prints.
Pottery Barn
Adue Interiors
And many more

See an old one you like on my social media? Lucas may be able to do another similar one for you. If you have questions about any of them, please ask.

Artist Statement:

I have always liked urban aesthetics and art that depicts everyday life. My style has evolved over the almost eight years I’ve been painting, but realism and impressionism are my main go to styles. For my portraits, the subjects are more than likely painting realistically except for the bright color palette. The backgrounds of my portraits, if a cityscape or nature scene are impressionistic these days.

I love painting cityscapes and city street scenes even though I could never see myself living in a city full of hustle and bustle. I think I enjoy looking at it from afar. Wet streets are always interesting to me and having reflections allows me to intensify the colors of the lights and buildings etc.

Why do I paint portraits?

In 2018, I tried one of my first portrait paintings I wanted a challenge. Something different. Compared to how my portraits are done today, overall my early portraits were done in bland colors but the use of highlights and intense shadows was prevalent even back then. I had fun with it but didn’t feel too attached to the idea of painting people. I decided to delve back into portrait painting in 2022. I found inspiration in figures highlighted in intense neon colors.

I found a muse in painting women usually in bright synthwave colors. Several of my pieces have neon lights and colors in non-objective designs. But, others have them in various settings like city streets and cityscapes.
I think the female form is really fun and beautiful to paint. The challenge of getting light and shadow just right with color mixing, too is very entertaining to me. Using bright colors to accent as shadows and highlights.
I rarely paint portraits with the person smiling. Moodiness adds to the overall emotion and aesthetic I’m going for. Many of the subjects of my portraits seem to be daydreaming or lost in though. It gives the viewer another thing to make up in their head about the person in the painting. What are they thinking about? Did they have a good day and they are remembering everything that happened? Or is it that they are feeling nostalgic and dreaming of old memories they wish they could relive?
One aspect of myself I paint into my portraits or scenes with people is empathic nature, I’m an empath and I hope it looks like the subjects in my pieces are feeling intensely and thus making the viewers feel that intensity.
I think the world needs more color. Thus, I add synthwave or rainbow-like color schemes to my paintings of more or less everyday scenes.

Synthwave colors

I’m not sure what drew me to the synthwave color schemes. I was born in the early eighties and so I remember that aesthetic. Even though, synthwave is more of an exaggeration of the 80s-90s style and color. But, purple is my favorite color and used a lot in synthwave style art. I love using neon pink, neon blue, and Phthalo blue along with purple. I guess it reminds me of simpler times.
I believe synthwave colors and or lo-fi colors are very calming and soothing to viewers. So, I think adding them to my work gives viewers relief from stress and can add wonder to their days.