Rick Stevens: In the Company of Trees
Exhibition at Kay Contemporary Art
Santa Fe, New Mexico
October 4-21, 2024
“My work goes quite representational to quite abstract. This stylistic range provides me opportunity to approach it from a variety of angles. Having an abstract painter’s eye when I’m painting landscapes helps in maintaining a freedom from stifling rules, those that you learn in order to break. Keeping a landscape painter’s eye when painting abstract imagery informs me how to manipulate space and evoke nature’s moods. Abstracted forms become semi-symbolic . The references to natural phenomena are baked in from decades of depicting the landscape. Shapes, colors, textures, and even how the paint is applied is driven by the desire to capture certain effects that I’ve witnessed over the years. At other times something specific such as how the fading light casts a hue over a scene can provide the sense of mystery that I yearn for. There is a Japanese word; “Komorebi” which describes the phenomenon of sunlight filtering through leaves and the patterns it creates as it falls on trees and surfaces. It is usually associated with tranquility, beauty, and a sense of harmony for the one experiencing it. I value such moments and consider them an investment in my general well being.” Rick Stevens
READ FULL ESSAY: Kay Contemporary Art
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Rick Stevens at Kay Contemporary Art
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Rick Stevens Influences, Part 1 Klimt and Thomson!
Rick Stevens Influences, Part 2 Klee and Redon!
Thanks for Visiting 🌻
~Sunnyside
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Thanks for posting this. I love his work and follow Rick on Instagram. Always an inspiration for me.
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My pleasure, always, Liz. I can see why you love his work! 🌻
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I can see why, Sunnyside. 😊
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Thank you for introducing me to another artist. I love aspens (that I came to know when I lived in Manitoba) and birch trees (from my native Michigan). I will be sure to look him up when I am in Santa Fe next year.
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How wonderful, Madeline! I hope you take pictures to share with us next year! 🌻
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Thank you! Have a great week ahead! 🙂
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My pleasure, always, Sheila. Have a wonderful week! 🌻
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I can’t paint worth a lick, but I do have something in common with Rick Stevens: an appreciation for komorebi, which I once experienced in east Texas, and wrote about here.
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Thank you, Linda! I hope others follow the link and learn about komorabi – a new word for me. And, as always, your poetry selections and photos make my day better. I especially enjoyed C.S. Lewis’s description “patches of Godlight.” 🌻
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Aren’t they pretty!
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Yes! Just visiting his website is like getting lost in wonderland to me, Mitzy. 🌻
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Love that kind of work. we live in the trees, forest area, Such beauty to paint thousands of ways.
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I agree, Gary. Thanks for visiting and sharing your thoughts this afternoon. 🌻
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How lovely it would be view such a painting glowing with light and colour on my living room wall.
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If I ever settle down in one place, I would love to do the same, Vivienne. 😎
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