Focusing on the power of vivid paintings
By Kristin Hoerth
The Path by Erin Hanson.
This story was featured in the July 2019 issue of Southwest Art magazine. Get the Southwest Art July 2019 print issue or digital download now–then subscribe to Southwest Art and never miss another story.
THERE ARE MANY ways an artist can make a painting come to life. Design and composition is one way, orchestrating shapes and angles to grab the viewer’s eye and move it around the piece. Capturing light and shadow is another way; the careful combination of hard and soft edges is yet another. This month, though, we’re examining the animating force of color.
Consider the works of still-life painter David Cheifetz. “Color is one of the tools I use to create focus,” he told us. “Having that one area of focus with intense color, with a restful area around it, is what gives you the impression of a colorful painting.” A great example of this is SACRAMENT—one of my favorite pieces in the story—in which a vessel full of unexpected pink and blue brush strokes is surrounded by an expansive and beautiful white background.
Or take the landscapes of California painter Erin Hanson. As a child, Hanson planted flowers with her mother, only to wind up disappointed when their petals weren’t as vibrant as the ones she’d seen in a Van Gogh painting. “I knew that art could be better, more real, than real life, and definitely more colorful,” she says of that discovery.
In her work today, “No color choice happens randomly,” writes Norman Kolpas. She premixes every color she plans to use in a piece; then she lays down each stroke of paint, never going over it again. “That adds to the power of the painting,” Hanson says. “I avoid muddy colors.” This clarity is evident in works like THE PATH, shown here—a veritable kaleidoscope of both warm and cool colors that manages to remain cohesive. As viewers, we are irresistibly drawn in toward a concentration of pink shapes near the center that marks the path’s intricate vanishing point. The painting swirls with energy and life, thanks in large part to its compelling use of color.
One final note this month: As this issue was going to press in late May, we learned of the passing of painter Everett Raymond “Ray” Kinstler. An inspiration to many artists who have appeared in our pages, Kinstler was one of the nation’s top portrait artists. Among the thousands of people he painted were celebrities, authors, senators, and presidents. His works are in the collections of the National Portrait Gallery, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and other institutions. A generous man who loved to tell a good story, he will be greatly missed.
This story was featured in the July 2019 issue of Southwest Art magazine. Get the Southwest Art July 2019 print issue or digital download now–then subscribe to Southwest Art and never miss another story.
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