Over time I have settled into the idea of there being power in delicacy.
PLEIN AIR PAINTING was the reason I started my career as a National Park ranger. I have been able to live and paint in amazing landscapes, and also help protect them. I have discovered purpose in being a source for artists looking to participate in National Park residencies.
My style comes from the in-the-moment choices I make when working outdoors. The pace is set by how long the light on my subject may last, affecting my color choices and brush strokes. My paintings are small, packable. I can reflect on the composition in real time, physically moving until I find the painting. Many times I see a great view, hike down the trail a ways in hopes of something “better,” then go back to the first view. Most of the time when I pass up that initial recognition, I end up hustling back.
I have never not had the will to paint, but I do look to other artists to refresh my ideas. When I am seeking inspiration from others, I tend toward books and old textbooks. In college I studied Dutch landscape painting and can always revisit those expansive views to study how those masters created depth. The amazing Lois Dodd (still painting at ninety!) is my contemporary influence.
When I shared some work with one of my art school professors a couple of years ago, he called my post-graduation paintings “powerfully delicate.” He said it had to do with my mark making and the physical scale of my paintings (small), which surprised me, given my penchant for mountains and wide-angle views. Over time I have settled into the idea of there being power in delicacy. So much of media calls for being louder and bigger, it took time for me to recognize the boldness in a painting that is intimately scaled. A lot of my purpose as a painter is to take home something of the places and times I am living. Pulling painting and sketches from between the leafs of my journal to revisit does bring with it a feeling of tenderness.
MARYELLEN HACKETT
