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 New Mexican Scenes |
 Shorelines |
 Buffalo and Wildlife |
 California |
| In 1990 my sister Bertie sold me a
wooden box of pastels and told me to try out this medium. I carried the
box with me on a South Lake Tahoe beach in 1991. As I was casting about
wondering where I was going to hike I finally slumped down with
my heavy load and saw the wildflowers at my feet. They were lupin and
Indian paint brush. So I tested the pastels out with good results. I
can work quickly rather than endure the drying periods required when
painting with oils. I've been working with pastels ever since. The movement of nature moves me--the clouds, the flickering of sunlight through leaves or back dropping a mountain where you can look though layers of trees, the shimmer of the light on water, bright blue skies, massive billowing clouds, the beginning and ending moments of the day. The dynamic effects of nature quicken my artistic pulse. I've chased rare, majestic June clouds fro twenty miles from Chico to Black Butte Reservoir and told a white haired gentleman there what I was doing. I was gratified to hear him say, " We followed these clouds from Sacramento, I've never seen clouds more beautiful." There is something about the drama of lights and darks and color in the mountains and oceans that excites me. Nature is like a grand, silent symphony. How can anyone not be moved by seeing the bright back-lit evening sun on the mountainside through the tree silhouettes? As an impressionist, one has to work quickly to capture these effects. As Goethe has said, "There is power and magic in boldness," and in doing plein-air painting you are living literally, each moment to the fullest. Each scene before us has its' certain glorious time. Monet saw the day in time segments as small as 14 minutes. Doing landscape painting is one of the most satisfying occupations on earth. There is an emotional feeling and attachment in creating works of art from observations of "God's paintings." Oceans with their swirling masses of darks and lights and constant turmoil and clash of color and sparkle of light are an endless source of inspiration and challenge. How can anyone be bored if they aim for perfection? Frustrated, yes, but not bored! Do you know what it's like to work furiously with brushes and capture the last moments of a majestic evening sky immediately after a rain? Do you know what it's like to "capture" a little black girl and a little white girl sitting together on an apple crate in a portrait sketch at the Farmer's Market? When you're done there is a tear in the corner of your eye and you think that God is pleased with this one. Do you know what it's like to begin a painting in the last moments of a glowing New Mexico mesa in front of a couple of tourists and to "nail it"? This is the pure joy of being an artist... November 8, 2005 |
