His paintings glow with reds, blues, and yellows.

Larry Portillo, a talented San Antonio artist, has worked as an art framer for most of his life. Like many Latino artists, Portillo has never been able to earn enough money as a full-time artist, but he considers himself fortunate to work in an art supply and framing store where he is around art materials and interacts with art folks who bring paintings, prints, and photographs to be framed. 

We are drawn to Portillo’s work by his excellent layering of basic colors. His paintings are all the more remarkable because he is largely self-taught. It is obvious though that he has studied great paintings. In a conversation with Portillo about which artists inspired him, I learned that we shared a common favorite artist, Vincent Van Gogh.