The only time that worked for my visit with a painting friend in Alaska was during the time she was taking a workshop from David Mollet, Chair of the Art Department at the University of Alaska in Fairbanks, at a field camp in Denali National Park. Luckily I got in from the waiting list. David's work derives more from his study in New York than the plein air movement in the lower 48 and in fact he was not familiar with Edgar Payne and John Carlson, the current gods of outdoor painting. There is an amazing abstract quality to David's on location paintings that I rarely see in contemporary outdoor painting. We were working big (small to David) with 16 x 20 panels, four times bigger than my average outdoor painting size, out in Denali Park in mostly overcast, rainy and sometimes exceedingly windy conditions. I do not consider any of the paintings I did "finished"--they are at the most 2 to 2.5 hour worth of painting time, but I do consider them experiments in painting differently. This was the first one.
I really like this one! I will look up the instructor's work online. Painting in Alaska must be like painting on another planet. Wild, immense and awe inspiring.
ReplyDeleteI really like the energy in this painting. The strokes are direct and I love the variety of color that you used. It seems that you can feel the wind in this painting! Very rugged!!
ReplyDelete