Chris Morel
Vast lands
Chris Morel grew up in rural Maryland. When he was able to look for them, he sought out farms because he wanted to be outside and to be associated in some way with agriculture, which for so long was the backbone of the American economy and culture. He worked as an illustrator in Texas before moving to Taos, New Mexico, “because I needed to get outside to paint. I’m inspired by the landforms here—the differences in elevation, the geology, the Rockies and the desert. The scale is more vast than in the east and much of the landscape is uninhabited.” His home borders the 1.5-million-acre Carson National Forest “where you could hike 60 miles in almost any direction and never see another person.”
He initially painted in watercolor but turned to oils, returning occasionally to watercolor. A recent watercolor, Encinal Backroads, is an example of his taking a less traditional approach to the medium, which tends more toward transparency. “I push the color,” he
explains, ”and try to get a lot of saturation.” The rugged adobe and log buildings with their rusting metal roofs catch the late sun while shadows creep in, giving him an opportunity to explore the effects of different light.
He used to paint plein air about 80 percent of the time but now paints “primarily in the studio where I can spend more time designing the piece and not worrying about the light changing. I go out to photograph and to do small sketches to get some subject matter.
“Picuris Pueblo is just down the road from where I live,” he adds. “I like the late afternoon light at the ruins and the contrast of bright light and shadow. Pueblo Ruins, which is 18 by 40 inches, was originally 30 by 40 but I cropped the foreground to emphasize the contrast.
“The paintings reveal themselves as I’m working,” he continues, “and they don’t give up the reward easily. There’s a lot of observation and experimentation in the process. Artists are creating an illusion. We take on a challenge, something we’re not comfortable with. The painting is done when you’ve answered most of your problems. If you paint what calls out to you at that moment—what inspires you—you’ll do your best work.” Chris Morel: One Man’s Home, will be shown at Nedra Matteucci Galleries in Santa Fe, June 22 through July 20.