Travel with me to ignite the mysteries in a place

Landscape is not an image, not even a place, but the residue of an experience.

It marks the moment when the world is viewed anew. I have had opportunities to travel the world, to gain a sense of place. For me, it is the immediate experience of distant lands and this proximity of distance is the spark that ignites the mystery in a place.

Portions of these environments take shape compositionally without  betraying their uniqueness. Winding pathways, bodies of water, abrupt barriers, broad plains, fixed and fleeting structures and towering mountains are integrated as subjects before my eyes and on my canvases.

In my painting, a sense of intrigue is transposed into boldness of color.

It is this vital spark of color that animates every landscape. RED. vermillion, scarlet, brick, cadmium, wine, copper, blush, magenta, cherry, burgundy, coral, pink, rose, cardinal, claret, ruby, salmon, sanguine, terra cotta, crimson, maroon.

 I have traveled the world, but never alone. Beside me is not only my husband, but  the Fauvists, the wild beasts of painting, their forbearer Gauguin, their leader Matisse. Texture is evident not only in brush strokes – twisting, turning in every direction, stippled on texture – but also, at times, in materials foreign to painting but native to the depicted land: materials collaged onto the canvas, less image than object, between image and object.

I attempt to transfer the viewer to the places I have seen, the experiences I have had, the eyes with which I have seen. I carry this mission out through boldness of color and immediacy of the texture. Feeling, not likeness, connects me to the land through my canvas.

 It is what I call landscape.

Diane Karpel

jdkarpel@aol.com     WWW.dianekarpel.com     818. 388. 7770