“In the backgrounds of his paintings were beautiful landscapes,” Wendy recalls. “I especially loved his clouds. I would watch him paint them, and wish that one day I could paint clouds, too.”
Although her Uncle Joe’s meticulous hand at landscape provided a strong foundation, Wendy, now working in her own studio in the River Arts District, has gone beyond the clouds since earning her degree in Fine Arts from East Carolina University.
Drawing from late Impressionist and early Abstract Expressionist sources, her carefully structured and colored landscape paintings draw the viewer into a world of glimpsed possibilities, rendered in delicate greens, blues and grays, where tranquility and contemplation reign. “I look at a scene, half-close my eyes and what results is an impression or essence of that place.”
Most of her work is based on the reference photographs she takes, often while driving with one hand on the wheel and the other pointing the camera out the window. “The photo is for composition only,” she explains. “I change the colors, the time of day, and reorganize nature to my own design. Many times I may begin a painting using the photo, and then paint my way over to something much more abstract.”
The results are reminiscent of Cézanne’s work with form and color, particularly his numerous views of Mont Sainte-Victoire, and of Klimt’s heavily worked and patterned landscapes. Wendy cites both artists as influences, their attention to structure and layout appealing to her sense of style, gleaned from her former occupations as a photographer and graphic artist.
“I’ve always been interested in how things fit and work together,” Wendy says. “There’s a good bit of structure in or behind my paintings. I want my paintings to draw the viewer in — to have them feel they are present in, or want to go into, the painted space. Entrance to a painting can happen in several ways — lots of contrast in one area, a path or stream which leads the eye through, or a color gradation which pulls the viewer up and down or side to side.” Bands of color and a heavily textured surface are also used to engage the eye and invite the viewer on a voyage of exploration.
One of Wendy’s more abstract creations is, in fact, titled The Voyage and is perhaps the purest expression of her fascination with color and structure. Strips of earth browns and forest greens traverse the canvas horizontally, intersected vertically by subtle fractures of darker shades, inviting the eye to roam, pause, and move on before arriving at the topmost tier of deep blue, a calming influence on the more raw elements below.
“I get aggressive with the canvas,” Wendy says, explaining that she lays in broad areas of color with a palette knife before moving in for the more delicate work. “I want a painting to look like a painting. Lots of texture, lots of heavy brushwork.” Collage techniques have also figured in her work, particularly in a series of paintings inspired by beech trees, in which she used sheet music to form the bark of the trees. “I love the symbolism of the structure of music as the structure of trees.”
While much of Wendy’s work has been modestly sized — most no more than 24 inches on their longest sides — a series of larger-scale works are now beginning to fill her studio. In a return to her early fascination with her Uncle Joe’s celestial creations, these recent pieces are skyscapes that Wendy refers to as her “best of” series, incorporating elements of her landscape work with serene depictions of cloud-dotted skies.
“Ambiguity and insinuation, that point of intersection where the earth meets the sky, the mountains become clouds, water ends and sky begins, is extremely intriguing and satisfying to paint,” Wendy said of her current work. “Klimt thought of his landscapes as a celebration of life. I agree with him about that.”
A Look at Wendy Whitson’s Work
Wendy Whitson’s work can be seen in a solo show mounted by The Haen Gallery
(52 Biltmore Avenue, Asheville, 828-254-8777, www.thehaengallery.com), on exhibit until July 31.
Wendy has open studio hours every Friday from 10:00am-4:00pm at Warehouse Studios on Lyman Street in Ashville’s River Arts District.
