Ron Boehmer

Artist's Statement:
The intention in all my work is to address the formal issues of painting, specifically, and the visual language paradigm, generally. In other words, the effort is to explore and understand or "realize the nature of painting." At the same time I seek to record a specific visual and "feeling" response to the natural world, to light, to atmosphere, space, color, shape, form, and the symbolic, unique, or archetypal character of the subject matter. My paintings are intended to be expressions of the nature of Nature, the nature of painting, the nature of "sense of place and time," and the nature of the experience of "Being."

In general I prefer to work from direct observation. With regard to landscape this means working on location. I will usually try to finish each plein air painting in one session, although occasionally a painting will require two or more sessions on-site. These are usually oils on paper, or on canvas or masonite. While these plein air paintings are used as the source material for larger studio paintings, they are intended to be complete statements rather than "studies."

In addition to the plein air work I make larger scale paintings in the studio, based upon the on-site paintings and studies, but dependent more on working from memory of the plein air painting experience than direct blow-up of the smaller works. The studio paintings often involve a more reflective and analytical approach to the compositions than I have time for in the field studies. The paint surface and brushstroke elements also often differ as the larger works involve layering and "building-in" color in a manner that is somewhat different than in the more spontaneous plein air work.

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