Perfectly Loved
"I landed in Madrid, Spain for personal art tutelage with D. Fco. Alcaraz, on Independence Day, 1994; He restored prehistoric cave paintings in southern France, iconic cathedrals, Rembrandt and is held by Le Louvre, the Palace of Versailles, El Prado, and The Met in New York. He did two-man international exhibits with a housemate on Montmartre, Pablo Picasso. Major collector of modern art, Walter P. Chrysler, Jr. (MOMA, National Gallery of Art, Chrysler Museum of Art/Norfolk, Virginia) bought his paintings in Paris. Alcaraz told me his proudest moment was having his painting placed centerstage by Picasso at a two-man exhibit they did. I didn't know any of this when I went to Spain. How amazing that my watercolor is beside two Picasso oils in north Texas. I was advised by Alcaraz to not part with any of my paintings made in Spain (Under his corrective brush) - I donated most in 2002, in a body of 40+ of my watercolors, to the Adoption Exchange Chapter in New Mexico! Imagine what's they're worth today".
Alcaraz carved and gold-leafed a frame for each of two artist Carroll's, as he had done for each of the world's greatest art museums. Valued at $10MM each, Carroll gifted one of them to National Medal of Honor Museum to wrap up fundraising for the MOH Museum, 100%, without any restriction, documentation or tax write-off, Spring 2025. "My dad rowed a dingy ashore with some SEALs to rescue a downed Army pilot in the Philippines. The SEALs kept my dad's boat unharmed, and I am alive and able to do what I do because of them". SEAL and NASA Captain, Chris Cassidy, President & CEO, MOH Museum and Foundation, accepted it on behalf of all Americans. Then, he gave Carroll his SEAL Challenge Coin and his NASA Challenge Coin. We should never forget the sacrifice of these men, women and families, what they did for our country. The museum is a way to connect us to American values. Top Photo: Perfectly Loved, one of the two and was "My last painting with Alcaraz in Spain". Photo by Allen Rich at Creative Arts Center, Bonham, Texas.
"Swim upstream. Go the other way. Ignore the conventional wisdom."
- Sam Walton
Carroll transformed what science thought impossible.
"Now there are four chief obstacles in grasping truth, which hinder every man, however learned, and scarcely allow anyone to win a clear title to learning, namely, submission to faulty and unworthy authority, influence of custom, popular prejudice, and concealment of our own ignorance accompanied by an ostentatious display of our knowledge". - "Doctor Mirabilis" Rogerius Baconus OFM, the four Causes of Error explicated in his Opus Majus. These words of wisdom with a monotonal watercolor wash of Roger Bacon is from Scientific American. It was thumb-tacked above Carroll's study desk from the 4th-grade through college.
His dad gave him a stereomicroscope as an early college graduation present. Then, a Cannon pro camera. Carroll upgraded and shot for American City Business Journals, other papers and private clients. He sees the forest and the trees. Galleries wanted his pictures.
Photo (LEFT) by Paul Pogue while on a personal tour of his little Oklahoma ranch.
It was raining.
Carroll studied trees in winter to paint them in spring, summer, autumn, and winter - All species have distinctive branching and bark. The leaves (Patterns, arrangement, margins and venation) came later. Trees are not a stick with a ball on top. All trees are individually recognizable with common characteristics. Listen to Vivaldi's The Four Seasons. Light, lines, depth, and perspective are compositional aspects. Every timeless master artist first mastered the basics: Observation, drawing, and composition without shortcuts. Trees can be sticks with balls on top with shorthand and mathematical precision.
"I live frugally, quietly, athletically and time-consciously AND I like cutting my own grass and driving an old car. I want to be married, to feel that divine spark, but not to a show pony. Small talk, gossip and hyperbole wear me out. I enjoy R1 (rare) things and hate debt. I like rain, metal roofs, cavernous thunder, snow by the cubic foot, skinny dipping and wildflowers. I'm stable".