An artist and his purple pastel

He admires artists such as Cezanne, Balthus and Harold.

If Harold doesn’t ring a bell, it’s because Harold is a children’s book character who uses a purple crayon and his imagination to scribble endless adventures.

“I like that idea of inventing your world with a crayon or, in my case, oil pastels,” said 47-year-old Spokane artist Peter Presnail.

Presnail, who works part time at Twenty-Ninth Avenue Art Works, a framing shop on the South Hill, has been constructing his world of art since junior high school. Now his works are in galleries across the country from Seattle to his home state of Minnesota. From Friday to May 4, he will showcase his work at the Dean Davis Gallery in downtown Spokane.

“I think it’s kind of a variety of things” that make his art unique, said Deb Sheldon, owner of Twenty-Ninth Avenue Art Works and fellow artist. “His art is very well-crafted … and he has a wonderful eye. There is also something about the colors and how they all come together that gives you a good feeling.”

Before his paintings made their way onto showroom walls, Presnail observed art in galleries and museums. When he was attending the Art Institute of Chicago, he had easy access to painting havens right across the street.

“You could just really focus on a few works of art and really immerse yourself in it,” Presnail said about seeing art in museums and galleries.

While Presnail’s specialty is painting, he did dabble in pottery during college. Now he sticks to creating pots on canvas.

“I was more of a frustrated potter than a good potter, but I was always interested in the process,” he said.

Because he doesn’t mold his own, Presnail must pick up his stimulating souvenirs on trips he takes to various countries, such as Malaysia, New Zealand and Colombia.

“I find that when I do travel, it may inspire a body of work, not directly or immediately but maybe even years later,” he said.

For example, his portrait of a pair of cows is a re-creation of a photograph he came across.

“I thought it’d be kind of fun to do those cows,” Presnail said. “A lot of it is finding images out of boxes and boxes of photos.”

While some of his paintings are portraits of real places he has seen or creatures that have crossed his path, others are pure inventions and abstractions.

“A lot of it is putting colors down and seeing how they develop that way,” Presnail said.

The patchworked purples and deep blues paired with greens and reds are just a few pieces in the art puzzle that make Presnail’s work come to life, Sheldon said.

“From an artist’s perspective, I appreciate the beautiful artwork he creates,” she said, “and as a person, I enjoy the images and the feelings the colors give you.”

Presnail also finds humor in pairing academia with a cluster of subconscious scribbles. He creates those combos in an attempt to get viewers thinking outside the frame.

“That’s the thing about art: Sometimes it’s hard to verbalize your reaction to it. I know in a museum, when I come out of the museum, I see things differently,” Presnail said. “My goal is to have people see the world a little differently and have them notice things they might not notice.”

Another one of Presnail’s goals is to give his art a good home.

“Opposed to corporate collections that just hang in offices, I really appreciate people who like to live with my art” in their homes, he said.