Colorado Abstraction

Attended a panel discussion on the new book, Colorado Abstraction, at the Center for Visual Arts in Denver. Interesting to hear that Colorado has an extensive history of abstract painting.
The contemporary artists in the book are showing at the CVA and Robishon galleries, and the historical artists' work is currently in an exhibition at the Vance Kirkland Museum. One of the co-authors commented that she has observed that the openness of the Colorado landscape has inspired artists to go beyond the boundries of their representational painting. The vastness of the sky and land inspired artist,... to seek the perspective of the landscape from a parachute as he jumps from an airplane! Lorey Hobbs, my mentor, is also inspired by nature.

Figurative Work

After another round of critiques at the January residency, I have been caught between moving on to new subject matter and defending my choice of landscape. I've been thinking about other subjects that address either the same themes as landscape painting, or opposing themes...I have realized that my attraction to landscape painting is to escape certain aspects of urban life. Does our society have an awareness of how the external influences of modern life have on the health of our interior? Constant negative media coverage of every event in the world, and the barrage of advertising lead to pervasive feelings of fear and discontentment. I believe that exposure to this chaos has a negative influence on the mind and soul. As a result, many Americans though living in a free country, are imprisoned by either anxiety or apathy. They have become disconnected from the natural world and have lost respect and appreciation for the mysteries that surround us. My next body of work will focus on oil paintings, monoprints and collage of figurative studies that depict the desire to escape, the searching for contentment, and the fearfulness that seems to dominate our culture. At the same time, I will be using pastels to paint very optimistic colorful images of the sky that provide a stark contrast to the figurative studies.