He remembers graduating in 1992 from Savannah College of Art & Design with a mind so full of painters, techniques and styles that he lost his own take on art.

He devoted the years post-college to computer animation. “It’s very difficult when you’re an artist to figure out what to paint,” he said.

Years later, inspiration struck and DuPree, 37, is painting again, if not still a little apprehensive of how his work will be received.

“You’re probably the third person to see my art,” he said at a recent interview, standing in his living room now filled with bold nature scenes rendered in acrylics on canvas.

DuPree better get used to the attention, because he’ll be showing his art off at Cary’s Spring Daze Arts and Crafts Festival on Saturday.

He’s going to try to squeeze all 16 of his large paintings into his booth, but planning has stopped there.

“I don’t know the price on a single one,” he said, smiling.

A Cary resident for 10 years, living with his two labradors Mongo and Riley, DuPree spends his time at home, running FoxView Multimedia, his computer graphics company, and having daily painting sessions to the music of Jeff Buckley, Beethhoven and Cold Play.

Although it’s a joyful experience for him now, it took tragedy for DuPree to find his passion for painting again. Both his parents died within a year.

“I lost my whole family within six months time,” he said.

The dark time tested DuPree’s faith, and he began to understand Vincent Van Gogh and Henry David Thorreau, two of his influences, and their bodies of work, which share transcendental themes of glimpsing God through nature.

Combining his love of North Carolina’s mountains and seasides with his interest in capturing movement from still images, DuPree’s personal painting style was born. But he’s still always trying to get better.

“A really good painting is something that’s pretty, but there’s something more, a question mark,” he said. “A good painting doesn’t answer all your questions.”

See DuPree’s paintings, photography and sketches for sale at louisdupree.com and at Spring Daze. Visit his computer graphics company at foxviewmultimedia.com.