lhlefevre Interior Prairiescapes S3

A Note on Process:

When painting this series I would lay down the atmosphere.
Then with very light gestures I would block in the basis for
what will grow into the land. None of these works are from
photographs. I find this visualization process more intimate
than rendering from a photo. They are not copies of the
land. They are a development from the land I live in and
grew up with. They are memories and wishes. They are
meditations. They are little scenes that I creatively live in,
explore and ponder each time I sit down to paint. They
literally grow as if I were hiking the land or viewing the
distance from within the picture plane. This process is
highly absorbing for me. When rendering from a visual
source I can't engage a work that intensively. The constant
looking back and forth to render is a very different type of
concentration. It distracts from engaging a work with
imagination. The process I am describing here is not
hand-eye coordination with a brain running interference.
Rather, it is an act of creative imagining. In this way, the
source is myself and the vehicle of communication the
environment.

I hope in looking at this work that you will be compelled to
ponder your own relation to this land we live in called the
Midwest.

The series, 'Dormant Dream', was started in January and
completed in September with a hiatus in between of almost
5 months. It has been a busy year at Distinctive Gardens
and consequently, my time for art has been limited. To my
surprise when I was able to return to the studio in
mid-August my skills were not as rusty as I anticipated. I was
quite happy about that. I started right back working on
visualizing these dormant landscapes. I love the metaphoric
quality they possess. Dormancy can appear as a death of
sorts. The intrigue is in the ever present spring that lay
hidden beneath the dead plant material
and leafless trees.