Bonnie Griffith, Walla Walla, WA
Member Since January 2010
Artist Statement Bonnie Griffith ~ Artist's Statement...
When I was a kid growing up in Central Montana on a remote cattle ranch, a few things were pretty important...drawing pictures, reading books and riding horses. I would spend lots of hours in the evenings drawing horses, people and wildlife with whatever medium I could get my hands on. My mother was an oil painter and illustrator. I decided that I was also, and proved that by always getting into her art supplies and creating something. I am sure she was exasperated with me, but always gave encouragement and critique.
My work is impressionistic of the northwest. It is about COLOR! I focus on landscape and work almost exclusively in dry “chalk” pastel. I tend to “push” color, to illustrate a lot of texture and hopefully, for the viewer, give them work that they can enter into and expose their senses to. I want the viewer to be able to “walk into” that painting, feel the warmth of the sun on a fall day, the cold of the snow on an early morning as the sun rises, smell the grasses and grains, feel the humidity of the hot day along a stream; enter that painting and get lost in it, even for a minute...enjoy it.
Shadows, clouds and atmosphere are expressed in a major part of this work. Aspens are a favorite subject. Those majestic, stark trees just stand out from the rest of the “crowd” and demand to be painted! The original “Ocher Fields” has proven to be an award winning piece, garnering a spot in the international competition “Pastel 100" in which 100 pastel pieces are selected as jurored winners in 5 categories. Another verison, “Ochre Fields II” was the People’s Choice award at the Richland Allied Arts Juried show 2006. One other piece, “East Fork” was the highest sold art and the people’s choice at the YWCA Art Auction, fall 2006. That image was the poster and promotional art piece for the 2007 auction. The Festival of Arts in Joseph, OR has been the source of 1st place winning pieces for the past 3 years in the professional division. Cheatgrass Hills won the Directors Award at the 2009 International Pastel Show in Tacoma and won the gold award at the Allied Arts Show 2009. Fields in Fall was accepted for the 2010 CM Russell Auction in Montana.
Enjoy the ramblings of this artist on the blog "bgriffithatcrookedcreekarts.blogspot.com" and my website www.bonniegriffith.com
My work is about color; about landscape...walk on in and enjoy it!
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