On an Overgrown Path

Randall David Tipton, Rainforest Autumn 2, oil 20×16 in.

May 27 through July 24, 2016

Marcia Burtt Gallery presents “On an Overgrown Path,” an exhibition of paintings woven from and ornamented by organic forms, twisting lines, and patterned surfaces that construct baroque visions of our natural world.

Dense, lush woods and wetlands inspire Randall David Tipton’s animated lines, splotches of color, and drippy washes. Michael Ferguson explores woods, meadows, gardens, and orchards using sewn-together patches of ornate scintillating color. Patterned surfaces are a recurring motif in Anne Ward’s depictions of quiet suburban tableaux; tablecloth ornamentation mimics nature alongside real flowers and fruit. Susan Petty finds the nearly supernatural in eucalyptus trees formed out of thousands of cross hatched lines.Erling Sjovold and Ann Lofquist combine detailed realism with sleight-of-hand illusion to tell the story of the landscape right down to individual leaves on trees.

Minutiae create entire worlds in Bill Dewey’s close-up photographs of waves.

Dynamic color and brushstrokes cover the canvases of Patricia Doyle, Marcia Burtt, and Dana Hooper. Hooper’s thick paint lays down striped ribbons of color, accentuating and exaggerating the hues of agrarian life. Doyle and Burtt exploit the colors of flowers and calligraphy of reflections on water in loosely rendered landscapes.

By whatever path they take you there, each artist has created paintings to get lost in.

Anne Ward, Midday in My Yard, oil, 25×23 in.