Dennis  Farris
Landscapes  in  Oil

Zion, Changing Light

Bryce Canyon

Zion Nat. Park

Sunset at Lucero Peak

Taos Mountain

Hazy Window

Mt Emory from the Basin Beneath the Window

Gunnison River Bend

"I have been asked many times 'How do you decide what to paint?' It is a very simple question but one that lies at the very foundation of a life as an artist. I have a commercial art degree and have always known that I would be doing something in the world of art, but just like any other field, it can take a while to find out just what that something is. I love to paint and draw, I always have, as a child my sister and I would draw horses for hours. I moved on to comic books, Spiderman and the Hulk became favorite subjects and I would learn all the muscles and movement to reproduce the stories I loved to read. I would draw people all the time the portrait became the ultimate challenge, to capture a likeness and mood of someone was both thrilling and satisfying. As I matured as an artist, I started to incorporate the background into my paintings. I would place the person into an environment to create a more complete picture of the subject’s interests or personality. I found myself drawn to the great paintings of the Hudson River School artists, and their ability to create an atmosphere within their canvas. Bierstadt, Church, Kensett, I would study their work to learn how they created such beautiful paintings. This attention to the background evolved into a true appreciation and love for the landscape as the central focus of my paintings. It was an exhibit of Sanford Robinson Gifford’s work that truly has set me in the direction I am on today. His treatment of the atmosphere, the depth he created with subtle variances of color, inspires my work more than any other. To me, I like to paint what I see; to represent the time, place and generation I live in. I prefer to document the world as I experience it just as it is now in this moment in time. When I am researching a painting, I naturally gravitate towards contrast. Contrast of near or far, light and shadow, or bright and muted, is a consistent theme in my work. I tend to pick subject-matter that illustrates the vastness of nature. I love open spaces, where you can see distant mountains or shores and wonder how far away they are. I like to paint the fleeting effects of sunlight that come and go too quickly to fully appreciate the beauty they reveal. I paint the things that excite me, the scenes that stop me in my tracks, or cause me to sprint up a hill to catch the light on a mountainside before it disappears. I want to see it all, from the best angle, at the perfect moment, so I can capture it and put it on a canvas to show everyone what I just witnessed. Dramatic scenes, things that make me stop and say …..WOW. The answer to the question "How do you decide what to paint?" is really the evolution of my experiences and the journey that got me to this point. The decision of what to paint, reflects who I am and how I see the world. I usually just say "things that make me go ….WOW!." .   .   .  . Dennis Farris

Artists  List     Calendar     Home     Contact Art Divas