Impressionist, semi-abstraction, abstract, landscape
Where does inspiration come from? What is an artist’s point of view? How does reality play with invention? I’m not sure that I can answer each of these questions. I can share a small part of my own process toward the creation of a painted idea.
There are times when I snap photographs to remind me of a moment, a shape, or a detail that I feel might escape my memory. I rarely use photographic references to paint the photo.
I have a long history of traveling the backroads in Northeast Wisconsin. Often, I find myself studying the old and worn structures that have a story to tell me. Growing up in the Midwest I have always felt that it’s agricultural heritage is close at hand. Often, the tallest and most prominent architectural elements of a community were found in it’s taverns, barns, church steeples and grain elevators. They rose like prairie “skyscrapers” across the plains and throughout the state.
The structures below caught my eye one winter day. We had been driving around the small towns of Algoma and Kewaunee , out hunting for images and ideas.
This past week I pulled up this photograph and I let my imagination and emotions guide me to the finished painting you see here. The road to art from idea is often a bumpy one. It is a process of trial and error that always creates both discomfort and excitement.
I find that if I can let go of what I see and strive to paint what is true for me, then I have a painting that has something to say.
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