Breakfast With Brooke

DENVER (CBS4) ― Artist Malcolm Farley has never been afraid to be bold -- not on the football field or the basketball court, and certainly not behind the canvas.

"I was a running back. I know what it's like to get hit. I know what it's like to make a jump shot, and hopefully that translates on the canvas," Farley said.

Farley was good enough at college football and basketball to go pro, but something drew him to art instead. He combined his love of sports and art to create a lucrative illustration career.

"You always say, paint what you know best, and for me, that was sports."

Adopted before he was a year old, Farley was 4 when he started painting. Soon after, his father would take him around the world to live in India, Africa, and Saudi Arabia, and other countries. Even then, Farley was inspired by the native art and learned to replicate it.

"The simplicity of the color wash, the simplicity of the flowing robes, always really excited me," Farley said.

Yet, Farley never took a painting class. Eventually, he taught himself, using knife techniques he learned putting up dry wall with his dad. It wasn't long before his colorful, memorable, slashing style depicted icons like Dan Marino, Nolan Ryan and Marilyn Monroe.

Farley became internationally famous for painting celebrities live, in front of huge audiences.

"I got to go everywhere in the world. I've painted all the major events: the Grammys, the Superbowl, the Olympics," said Farley. "It's been wonderful. But, my dad, who was a huge influence, kept telling me, 'Malcolm, there's more.'"

Farley's beloved father passed away last year. After three decades of painting pop culture images, Farley felt a shift in his consciousness.

"Inside, I knew something was going to happen sometime. I didn't know it was going to take the death of my father to kick me that way."

Farley began to recall some of the spiritual images from his world travels. Buddhist monks, Muslim faithful, the Prodigal Son, all came pouring out onto canvas in a stream of color and emotion.

"The painting becomes effortless, fluid. It's meditation in itself. It becomes fun again. That's my thing. It's fun again. How many Dan Marinos can I paint? I still do the Superbowl. I still do Tiger Woods, an that's beaufiful, that's fun. It is what it is, but when you're painting from the heart...and I have people coming up and hugging me because the art's moving them so much...it's channeling what spirit's all about," Farley said.

Much of Farley's "new art" is on display the Mile Hi Church, where he worships. Farley said, in these times, people need to believe in something bigger than themselves.

"There are major galleries closing their doors in major cities. I think this new art, it's hitting a chord. People are buying from the heart rather than, 'I want that Marilyn Monroe for above the couch,'" said Farley. "I had a show and they couldn't believe the same guy who did the four-by-six foot Marilyn was doing these Buddhist monks meditating."

The Democratic National Committee commissioned Farley to paint Barack Obama for a live audience, for the National Convention poster. The piece was so well received, Farley just returned from painting the Obama inauguration. Farley believes this administration is also part of a new awareness.

"It's a new thought, a new energy. He seems like a real guy," said Farley. "The painting process, just like life, it's the journey that's the fun part."

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