Interview with Ted Walsh for his March Show

Getting to that essence can be pretty tricky. But that's what it's all about. So I concentrate a lot of effort toward the bits of painting that will most efficiently get to the right feeling for a painting. That overall vitality of a scene is the overall goal of the painting. 

Once I have an idea of what I’m going for in a piece, the process of getting there is mostly about painting technique. And, with landscapes, I find, what works best for putting a painting together, is often the thing that will get to the heart of a picture. In a funny way, the paint on the canvas becomes a landscape of its own.

And so, the strength of those two intertwined storylines, (the picture, and the way the painting is made) work together to make the painting successful. 

I find realism is a practical tool for making the painting open and approachable.

However, representing a specific location or scene is not always necessary. A lot in each of these landscapes is out of my head from my imagination. I try to find ways to show a state of mind, a vibe of memory, or a spark of fascination. 

Art history and technique is of personal interestqqq to me. Especially that of American realism. To put paintings together, I lean toward academic structure, composition, and idea development. Simple shapes, and muted colors from a limited palette. 

Once in the swing of a painting, I use an anything goes approach. I apply paint to the surface with rags, knives, my hands, brushes, brush handles, anything that works.

The surface quality of a painting is pretty important. These paintings are heavily layered, and I spend a lot of energy getting the surface exactly right. I like to interweave passages of thin washy paint, thick dollops of opaque paint, paint drips, and areas scuffed with sandpaper, newsprint, or cardboard. 

Sometimes you just see something, and think, that will make a good painting. Other times, you have an idea for a scene, and pound the pavement for a while before you find something that will work. You may have to work through some studies, and pre-production to develop an idea if you can’t find it all at once.  

There are a lot of ways I choose a scene to paint, but, however I go about it, I’m usually leaning on intuition. I have a strong sensitivity for pictures that set a scene. Home/place, history, architecture, big skies, and the feel of an environment. I like buildings, birds, thoughtful figures, and meditative moods. And, I also like to try something new in each painting.

Putting together a picture, I often start with a mind toward design. I think about how I will divide up the canvas into shapes and areas of color and tone. This usually goes hand in hand with thinking a lot about the lighting of a scene. 

So, you try to work all these things together. What can you make that has the picture you like? What helps you work through the ideas you have? And how will it all work out as a beautiful piece of art hanging there on the wall?

I like to think each scene is pretty well open to a range of sentiments. I like it if a painting can bring you somewhere, and help you find something for your spirit. So, ideally there are many different ways my landscapes can evoke emotions, and I hope viewers can look at my paintings and use them however they find most valuable. 

But, that said, people often mention the quiet moods, nostalgia, and sense of pause in my pictures. 

I see it as thoughtfulness. I like to think I’m a thoughtful guy, and I enjoy little daydreamy moments of quiet. Those moments when you can focus, listen to the quiet, and find a bit of the macrocosm in the microcosm. 

Still, it's also important to me that my paintings stay down to earth. I enjoy the academic side of painting, but I think the most successful paintings are able to stand alone outside any rubric of theory. So, in each picture, I aim for a little hardscrabble earnestness too. 

Nature influences my paintings in a pretty broad way. I think my paintings are tuned with nature rather than representing nature. 

I grew up around a lot of farms. The pace of nature is probably what influences my work most. The rhythm of the seasons. The patterns you might feel as you move through a landscape. The processes of building your life within a landscape. When your built place decays, and you then build anew.

There may be a tension between the way you change and control the land, and the natural phenomena you can't control. Those things like big stormy skies, or the patterns of birds in the sky. The way erosions and time may arrange the landscape in a certain way, and, in turn, determine the way you feel about the place where you live.

Addressing nature in this way allows me a lot of artistic liberties. Much of what’s in my paintings is made up from my imagination. And so, most of the time I just keep an eye out for the parts of nature I find beautiful, so I can keep them in mind when I get back to the studio.

Brett has a wonderful sense of view for picture making. 

It's always a joy to work beside an artist who is an expert at what they do. Like I said above, getting to the essence of a landscape can be tricky, but Brett is excellent at this. 

He is one of those artists who make depicting the landscape look straightforward and perfectly natural. That takes a keen eye. Not just an eye for depiction, but a keen eye for the emotional, and poetic core of a perfect landscape.

I'm excited to show with Brett. I've been a fan of his work for a long time. We both paint landscapes, and in many ways common influence shows itself. But still, every painter has a unique hand. Pairing paintings with a shared direction, allows you to discover the subtle similarities and differences within the work. And, in some ways, that's what art is all about, isn't it? Finding those little things in the world that allow you to open up your palate and hone your capacity for flavor.