Duncan Martin

Duncan Martin

“A [good] painting concentrates the experience of being”

-Frank Auerbach

My work begins in the landscape, and continues in the studio, painting from the experience of being in the landscape.

While in the field, I paint small oils or watercolors, gathering more information from sketches and occasionally photos and videos. Back in the studio, I call upon the memory of that experience and the language of paint, while developing larger works.

While I am engrossed in the physical process of mixing color, pushing paint around, building up surfaces, seeing and building relationships, responding and adjusting, my awareness of my surroundings is heightened, and I become conscious of what I did not initially see or feel - the shifts and changes in weather, light, wind, temperature, the animation of all around me, flora, fauna, sounds, movements.  And when I am most transparent and in tune... the painting reflects this. The painting is no longer a picture of a landscape but embodies the spirit of the landscape. Something of truth reveals itself, transcending landforms and paint.  This becomes the substance of the work.

How to paint the landscape: First you make your bow to the landscape. Then you wait, and if the landscape bows to you, then, and only then, can you paint the landscape.

-John Marin