FINGER LAKES LANDSCAPES

   John Whiting paints the landscape near his home in the Finger Lakes region of New York State. His paintings have been exhibited in galleries and museums in the area. 

   The feeling of belonging to the landscape permeates the art of John Whiting. He creates his oil paintings of the Finger Lakes region entirely on site. They appear free and spontaneous, and allow the viewer to have a sense of being there. Whiting combines a receptive mode of painting with an active one. While portraying the light and motion of the scene in an impressionistic way, he also expresses directly the emotion he is absorbing from the landscape, through his animated brushstrokes and bold interpretation.

ARTIST’S STATEMENT:    I paint directly from nature, because I believe a more dynamic painting results.  I began painting landscapes about 1980, painting on small gessoed wood panels (approx. ½ square foot in area of varying proportions). The early paintings were fairly long views, and were mainly color compositions, with very little detail, and mostly atmospheric perspective. I still enjoy many of these very much. In the ensuing years I began painting larger, using linen canvas and masonite panels as supports. The views I chose tended to be closer and more intimate. I am now painting on larger canvases (as large as 42" x 73") as well as the full range of smaller sizes. The large paintings retain the feeling of intimacy that the smaller ones have. I like to compel the viewer to see the whole painting, and on close examination, to see paint.

    I see my work developing with each new painting, as new challenges are never absent. My main focus is to make paintings which function on several levels: representational, drawing the viewer into the space of the painting, expressive, color areas and gestural brushstrokes evoking subconscious emotions, and compositional, intriguing the eye and mind with the play of various dualities of space, like balance/imbalance, tension/release, and motion/calm. I know a painting is successful if it holds my interest and produces some of the feeling I had when I was there.

    Click here for a list of selected exhibitions:     RÉSUMÉ

    Prints of some paintings are available.    Check it out by clicking here.     PRINTS

© John Whiting  2001  All rights reserved