Artist bio
Stephen Brooks
WHY I PAINT TREES … AND ROCKS
As a child in Georgia, I spent much of my time outside. Whether it was camping with my brother and father or planting beans and checking the cows with my grandfather, I always felt happier wandering through a field or forest.
When I was seven, my family moved to western North Carolina where I instantly fell in love with the High Country around Boone and Blowing Rock. Later through Scouting, my brother and I spent many weekends on and around Table Rock and Linville Gorge. Still later in boarding school in Asheville, I recall signing up for as many hiking/camping activities as I could. At that time during the summer, I worked as a guide in a travel Camp that focused on backpacking and climbing in the mountains of western North Carolina. I made my very first watercolor paintings at this time inspired by my mountain environment.
During college in Virginia, I spent hours in the afternoon on the banks of the Maury River with watercolor and paper attempting to capture the intensity of the experience. I also spent hours in the library looking through almost every Art book in the collection. This is where I discovered Bonnard, whose work continues to be an influence in my work. I also began looking at the work of Wolf Kahn.
I do not recall painting from nature in graduate school, however, this period was important because I switched to oil and became interested in color. Professors encouraged me to study the work of Cezanne and other Post Impressionists.
Painting intermittently for the next twenty years, I was focused on a career in furniture design. I did not show at this time, but I always had a painting on the easel. The millennium sparked a surge in painting, and this is when the tree series began.
Many think I paint trees because I have a particular affinity for trees. I like trees, but this series is really about light and its interruption. The tree becomes a tool to slice up the space in the composition. I want the viewer to experience the painting in a way like I have, watching the sunrise through the forest. Recently, I have started to paint images of rocks and water. Again, I see this as an opportunity to explore light, reflection, and space.
I am not sure where all this exploration will lead, but it is work I enjoy and am delighted to share.
Steve Brooks Artist Statement
LANDSCAPE IN PAINT
I spend my free time walking the ridges and hollows of the North Carolina Highlands. The dark, tangled spaces of rhododendron groves, the broad expanses of light at the mountain tops, ancient mounds of lichen covered granite: These observations inform my work.
My paintings begin as a field of warm gray on the surface. Whether painting plein air or in the studio, I add multiple layers of color to describe the light and space. This process happens over a long period of time, allowing the layers to dry. Sanding, layering, glazing, repeating all add up to the finished painting. Relics of experience, these paintings record my decisions, mistakes, and solutions. They are as much about me as the landscape.
