About two years ago, Towne's mother was ill with cancer, and he found solace in his paintings, exorcising his grief via canvas and acrylic paints. Since then, his artistry has blossomed, and the 26-year-old Sunnyvale resident is opening his first professional exhibit this January in San Jose.

Towne has always had a creative streak, but limited his experimentation to his sketchpad. His abstract, distorted rendition of a face caught the eye of a family friend, who suggested that Towne add some color to the drawing. "I did another version on canvas, and the release of anger and anxiety was addictive," Towne says. "I ended up painting a lot of sad faces."

His mother eventually passed away, but Towne worked through her death and moved on to happier subject matter. His wife, Elizabeth, and their 5-year-old daughter had something to do with that. "No matter what I'm feeling, I can express it," he says. "I'm just hitting up all of my emotions in a colorful way."

After dabbling with larger works on canvas, Towne now focuses on cutouts he fashions from wood boards purchased at Home Depot. He paints each board with white primer, then lets his imagination play with the doodles he's cataloged in his sketchbook. Once he has an idea of shape and color, he carves the board with a band saw and gets to work.

"Canvas tends to get boring. It's more emotional and raw without a canvas," Towne says. "With shapes like this, the energy just flows out of the painting." He focuses on bright colors that don't necessarily match, indulging his interests in fashion and pop culture. "I like the philosophy of Andy Warhol—you see the image and you see me," he says.

Towne, who graduated from Santa Clara High School, studied graphic design before embarking on a series of odd jobs, including a position at a local dog kennel. "I could afford to buy art supplies, but it got to the point where I felt comfortable in saying that this is it," Towne says.

He's now working on his art full time, and he says that he's received a lot of support. He and his wife save expenses by living with her parents, family and friends have commissioned his paintings and works of his hang on the walls of his former employer. "They get up my confidence to actually do it," Towne says. "My daughter always has something to say."

He made the leap into galleries through his own curiosity. While touring exhibits in San Jose, he came across the d.p. Fong Galleries at 383 S. First St. "Their space is perfect for my stuff," he says. Joni I., the gallery manager (who asked to be identified only by first name and last initial), says Towne inquired about exhibiting. Once she looked at his online portfolio, she invited him to bring in some of his wood pieces for evaluation. "He has a good body of work," she says. "It's hard to get a start as an artist, and he's so enthusiastic."

Towne will be exhibiting in the neighboring Wine Galleria, with an upstairs room all to himself. He's been working to complete the requested 12 pieces, but he's also found the time to cut and paint arrows to point interested parties upstairs to the correct gallery. For someone who normally paints alone in a spare room with rock music keeping him company, this evolution in his art is quite a leap.

"I've never been the life of the party. I've never been Mr. Popular," Towne says. "The idea that people are coming to see me and my art—it's exciting. This is a big deal." Towne is considering branching out by taking his wood art into the realm of furniture design and hopes to eventually make a living of it, but for now, his first solo show is sufficient. "I'm trying to make art that I'm satisfied with, and that helps me make a connection with others that I couldn't do otherwise," he says.

Towne's show runs Jan. 2­31 at the Wine Galleria, 377 S. First St. in San Jose.