Richard Schloss
I fell in love with the landscape when I began painting in 1972 in Santa Barbara. I was inspired by the light and atmosphere of the region and spent my college years painting outside while everyone else was painting large expressionistic abstractions. I grew more and more interested in large paintings and adjusted my approach to work in the studio. Larger paintings are less objects to own and more spaces to inhabit. Today I still do small paintings outside but mostly work on larger pieces in the studio.
The most interesting aspect of the landscape is the interplay between the local color of the objects, the color and direction of the light hitting them and the effect of the intervening atmosphere. Every situation is unique and the factors influencing the color dominate in varying degrees. As humans we tend to see what is immediately important, i.e. the objects in space around us. As an artist I tend to see that which we see but don’t notice. The color of the light, gradations of color and altering effects of the atmosphere.