"Receiving"

oil on panel

Best of Show

June 26, 2010

Cedarburg, Wisconsin Plein-air Competition

As long as I can remember I’ve picked up a pencil or brush to interpret nature. When I was very young I regularly set off into the woods and fields near my home. I still return to natures quiet places to create and refresh my spirit.

Familiar themes and their variations show up in my artwork. I love old weathered structures, trucks, farms, small towns, trees and water, flowers, cafes…my home. These subjects are like old friends, always familiar but full of surprises. The more I know a subject, the more I can say about it in a painting. I’m a collector of images and ideas. When I return from a hike my pockets frequently bulge with rocks, feathers, bones, shells and bits of paper covered with sketches of the day. These things help me to paint what I know and like. I respond to the rhythm nature provides.

 I play with shapes big and small, with patterns of light and dark and with color bold and subtle. It’s my job to observe and express my truth in creating paintings of the natural world. I share a common ground with artists of the Cape Ann School and the Eight. I appreciate how they made the common astounding.

Once during a gallery show in Scottsdale, Arizona an elderly gentleman pulled me aside and intoned," You paint like a dead Russian!" That’s a comment I keep close to my heart. The famous artist Ed Whitney said, "The only power that doesn’t corrupt is the power to make something lovely." I hope that my artwork contributes something "lovely" to this world in my time and in this place.

Copyright © 2010 Bonnie Paruch. All rights reserved.
Revised: 07/08/10.