Bonnie Ganglehof contacted me in October because she was writing and article for Southwest Art Magazine’s January edition called Painting the Figure in to the Landscape. This being something that I do frequently, she decided to include me in the article. Naturally, and honored by the request, I did it as well and putting a full page advertisement in the edition. The article inspired me to dig up past paintings of the subject and compile a special gallery of that type of work.
As many of you know, I do a lot of plein air work and many highly coveted invitational events. These events attract some of the best painters in the country working from life and as the French say en plein air (working from life on location). Many of the artists steer or shy away from painting the figure in to scenes though. Not sure why but I have my ideas. Primarily, it is very difficult. Why risk possibly ruining a good painting by trying to put a figure in to it. It requires a very strong sense and ability to capture gesture, which is one of the most difficult attributes to painting the figure in general.
So Collectors, when you see figures in the landscape painted well, you can bet the artist is heading for a career that will continually grow. Not that those painters that do not paint figures in to their landscapes will have plummeting careers, it’s just that a higher draftsmanship is required in doing so, so I feel that it is a higher sensitivity towards subject. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it!

Here’s why to DO it, and I don’t do it in every painting, but: It gives the painting a lived in feel, and complies with my artist’s statement of painting in the genre, Impressionistic Realism. It gives the scene a great sense of scale. If you can paint the figure in to the scene in a way that is ambiguous, there by creating a sense that it is anyone, it can be very appealing, and easier to empathize with the subjects in the scene.

Here is the entire body of work created in the genre over the years. Many of the paintings below have sold, but there are many that are still available. For availability, go to the navigation bar above and click or roll over paintings, go to figurative paintings and click into that particular gallery.

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