Contemporary realist and Connecticut native Thomas C. Adkins has spent
years meandering through the hills and farms of Litchfield County, searching
for the perfect view. Rather than seeking out new landscapes, Adkins finds
inspiration in the familiar and captures on canvas the emotion or feeling that
is evoked when something suddenly appears fresh and new.
Adkins,
who will present 30 new works, both Plein Air and studio paintings, in a
one-man show, “Pastoral Solitudes,” at the Gregory James Gallery in New
Milford. The show continues through November 4th. All of the paintings
were produced over the past two years and reflect the farms and untouched
landscapes of Connecticut’s Northwest Corner. A few marine paintings were
inspired by scenes near Adkins’ home in Maine, where as a boy, he spent summer
vacations with his family.
Most of
his paintings are derived from small sketches made on location, which Adkins
refers to later in the studio, making subtle changes in color and light to
evoke a mood, the season or time of day.
The
green and gold fields of “Northern Farm Early Spring” draw the eye up to an aging
grey barn illuminated by sunlight peeking over the hills beyond the farm. The last
remnants of snow are visible on hilltops and the bare branches of trees stretch
toward a pale sky tinged with purple. The interplay of light and shadow hint at
a scene captured just before sunset, or perhaps slightly after sunrise.
The
change of season is evident in “Fall Diagonal Light Kent,” which features a
pair of barns, bookends to a white farmhouse, tucked beneath leafy green trees
tinged with orange. The last slanting rays of sun fall over the scene from beyond
the frame of the painting as thick clouds move in from the opposite side.
Looking
at “Lake Waramaug Summer,” the viewer seems to be perched on the path, in the
same spot Adkins set up his easel, pausing to take in the view of the lake and
green the hills sloping down to its edges. There is a small farm tucked into
the hillside, yet there is a sense that the viewer is able to take in this
tranquil scene alone. Adkins calls it “a snapshot of the moment. You get a true
sense of the atmosphere and the feeling for the place.”
A
graduate of Paier College of Art of New Haven, Adkins completed graduate
classes at the School of Visual Arts of New York. He has worked as art director
and creative director for some of the most prestigious advertising agencies in
Connecticut and New York.
As a contemporary
painter, Adkins’ style and technique has developed from early influences by Impressionistic
painters of light on nature, such as Monet, Pissaro, Willard Metcalf. Adkins’
work is featured in private collections throughout the United States and abroad.
His paintings have been shown in galleries and exhibitions in Connecticut and
New England, including the New Britain Museum of American Art, The Butler
Institute Of American, Old Lyme Association, Gregory James Gallery, Greene Art
Gallery and at Bayview Gallery in Brunswick, Me. A member of the Connecticut
Plein Air Painters Society and the Association of Oil Painters of America, he participated
in the prestigious International Marine Art Exhibition at The Maritime Gallery
at Mystic Seaport. In 2014, he will be one of a select few award-winning artists
from seven countries selected to participate in the 35th Annual
International Marine Art Exhibition at Mystic Seaport.
The Gregory James Gallery is located at 93 Park
Lane Road (Route 202) in New Milford, about 100 feet from the intersection of Route
109. For more information, please call (860) 354-3436 or visit www.gregoryjamesgallery.com.
No comments:
Post a Comment