A MIXED-MEDIA APPROACH FOR INVESTIGATING LANDSCAPE:

Last April, Ken was invited to the Anza-Borrego Desert by painter extraordinaire Jane Culp, and he fell in love with the place, so much so that he paid a visit to the Borrego Art Institute in the small town of Borrego Springs to inquire about workshop possibilities. Alas, the inquiry has now become reality, and the artist will lead a three-day workshop there from March 24-26, 9am-4:30pm.

Central to this workshop is the idea that there can be more to landscape painting than rendering a single, fixed scene or view. Although this approach worked brilliantly for the Impressionists and still does for many artists today, Marunowski believes that contemporary painters can push the idea of landscape further by considering it as a research site from which to extract various bits of information that can be incorporated into a single image. “When I think of landscape,” Ken states, “I think of both the grandiose and the minute, the commanding mountain and the fine details of a plant leaf.” “There is so much richness and diversity in a landscape worthy of our attention,” he continues, “so why not explore it all!” kennethmarunowski.com

Marunowski’s approach to landscape in this workshop centers around a deep consideration of the elements of art: line, shape, color, value, texture, form and space. The task of the participant, then, is to locate elements in the landscape that correspond to these elements of art. For example, a winding canyon seen from above may speak to line while the bloom of a desert cactus may represent shape and color. Field studies and photographs will capture these elements in situ and will then be creatively redesigned in the studio into a single composition using a mixed-media approach (charcoal, pastel, acrylic paint, crayon, colored pencil, etc.).

To learn more about or to register for Ken’s workshop, please visit borregoartinstitute.org/event-5070825.

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