A few years ago, I appeared on a channel 7 morning show and in the interview I was asked which artists were my favorites. I flubbed the answer, since any names that would answer that question changes regularly, and also was not something I thought much about, I like so many artists equally. If I had been asked who influenced my artwork, I would have a completely different list. John Singer Sargeant, all of the Group of Seven, Emily Carr, Robert Henri, maybe Georgia O'Keeffe, Charles Hawthorne and many of my painter friends including my husband.
Recently, I was asked by Carl Judson to reconsider Wolf Kahn as a 'favorite'. My main interaction with Kahn's work was presenting a workshop/paintout based on his visit and artwork created in Niagara Falls for his Castellani Art Museum show. Loving the Falls as I do, I objected to his severe abstraction and garish colors, simplifying views and places I know so well.
I thought about this challenge and when Judson and I went there to paint, I eliminated details, heightened colors and broke the landscape into color fields. The huge plateau of snow and dramatic shadow, along with the shapes of mist, water and background made the composition appear to be composed of just a few puzzle pieces, hard edged and flat. I like it. I proceeded to make a second painting from the same vantage point including more information. I might have painted more on it, but the light was changing; by mid afternoon, the gorge fills with light and the shadows you see here are gone.
Channeling Wolf Kahn, 14x11 oil on board
Early Spring at the Shoe, 8x12 oil on canvas
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