As a child, David Lynch expressed his creativity with trading cards.

“You’d get little baseball cards or movie cards,” he said. “I’d piece together scenes and make my own movie poster. Like a collage. Then I’d draw it.”

When he’s formulating an idea for one of his paintings, Lynch still does the same thing except he uses photographs he’s taken. “I just did like I did when I was a kid. I just kind of lay them out and then I’ll start drawing. I’ll take certain pieces of this one and certain pieces (of that one) and adjust the sizes.”

Downtown Memphis is Lynch’s favorite subject.

“I love the buildings Downtown. I love the skyline and the sense you get from being Downtown. ... I did Beale Street and people loved it.”

The painting, which he did 10 years ago, shows both sides of the street, but Beale Street doesn’t completely separate each side. “It’s really kind of impressionistic Cubism. You create motion by melding both sides of the street.”

Other paintings are of South Main, showing Earnestine & Hazel’s and the Arcade restaurant, the Orpheum and Harbor Town.

His latest painting is a view of Madison. “You’re standing up on the viaduct right by the Wonder Bread factory and you’re looking straight Downtown. It’s got a lot of character with all the older buildings.”

He rarely paints people, but he did do one of Rudy Williams, the trumpet player who greets people in front of King’s Palace Cafe on Beale.

A native of Columbus, Ohio, Lynch moved with his parents to Memphis when he was 5. He studied art at the University of Memphis. He now lives in Atoka.

Last March, Lynch retired after 25 years of working at Delta Industrial Coatings paint manufacturing plant in Arlington and is now a full-time artist. His paintings are on view at Blues City Pastry at 153 South Main and outside Opus restaurant in the FedExForum. One of his paintings will be the cover of the South Main Association 2009 Home Tour.

Lynch hasn’t painted Midtown, East Memphis or Germantown, but, he said, “I started a France series. There’s a couple who own one of my paintings. They have a villa in Sablet, France. They said, ‘Look, you can stay there, but you have to paint something and leave it.’ How can you pass that up?”

Lynch and his wife spent two weeks in France. He painted a view from the villa’s balcony for the couple. A painting of the Eiffel Tower completely done in red was one he did for himself.

Click here to see more of David Lynch’s work at DavidLynchArt.com.

Contact Michael Donahue at 529-2797 or e-mail donahue@commercialappeal.com.