• Courtesy
• "Stella Sings Cowlelujah"

When asked why the characters in his paintings have prominent derrières, dug Nap said he didn't know. Yet there's a precedent: "When I was about 8 years old, I liked to draw cowboys with a neighbor and, for some reason, we gave them big butts," Nap said in a phone call. "It was just, 'Oh, that seems cool.'"

The Burlington artist's new exhibit, titled "Family Fiction," at Frog Hollow Vermont Craft Gallery nods to the past in another way. The nine large-scale oil paintings recall the narrative work Nap created more than 30 years ago; the former lead singer and lyricist for '80s band Pinhead switched to a full-time pursuit of visual art in 1989, he said.

• Courtesy
• "Roger's First Bike Ride"

Depicting single or several humans — or animals — the paintings included text that wrapped around the image on a thick wood frame. The text manifested what would become a hallmark of Nap's oeuvre: his abiding fascination with psychological quirks, follies and fears. He's always been candid about his own insecurities, as well as his brief stint in a mental hospital decades ago.

Still, even the implied vulnerability of "mental patient" failed to land Nap a tent in the "outsider artist" camp. He is self-taught but also quite self-aware. Nap's naïve-style renderings and word-based paintings — made into hundreds of affordable and popular prints — belie a deep familiarity with human longing. One of his word prints might sum it up: "Caution: I have needs."

• Courtesy
• "After Father Leaves"

Some of Nap's works are dark or weird, but many are sweetly funny — such as the portrait of a dog accompanied by the words "Sometimes I just wish I could pee on everything in the whole wide world." He has also produced topical and even political prints, including "Yup, I feel the Bern."

The paintings in "Family Fiction" dispense with text, but they certainly invite viewers to imagine the stories they might be telling. The colorfully drawn members of the Radcliff family — mom Angelina, dad Clifford and their seven children — are depicted merrily singing to cows, dancing in their living room, riding a bike and cruising in a bright-red car. One is a group portrait of the offspring — Edmond, Calvin, Dominique, Stella, Evella, Jill and Roger — whose faces fill the picture plane. (This clan recalls the spirited Raimbilli cousins drawn by late Vermont self-taught artist Gayleen Aiken.)

• Courtesy
• "Calvin Cruising"

All the Radcliffs have orange hair. They also have outsize heads on squat bodies.

"I like to paint big, but I can only do 36 by 40 inches so [the paintings] fit in my car," Nap explained. "Making the figures short, they can be big on the canvas. It's not an attempt to make fun of short people," he added quickly. "It's just fun to experiment with form."

Nap, 76, suggested that as you get older, you can get more childish. Freer. The imaginary family in his new works is "just something I wanted to do," he said. "So I did it." And he admitted that the Radcliffs are a family he wishes were his own.

• Courtesy
• "Siblings: Calvin, Edmond, Roger, Jill, Evella, Stella and Dominique"

Over the years Nap has branched into other styles, including abstraction. He's become a staple of art markets and retail outlets, performed as a storyteller, published two graphic novellas, and illustrated a children's book by another author titled — wait for it — The Book of Butts. Currently, Nap is working on a script, though he's not yet sure whether it will be for a film or another novella.

He also plans to continue giving the Radcliffs life in oil paint. "It's a way of tackling loneliness by creating a family," Nap said. "It's fun for me to be with them."

"Family Fiction" is on view through July 27. Learn more at dugnap.com and froghollow.org.