AMERY BOHLING Scottsdale, Arizona
Amery Bohling is an Arizona-based painter best known for her masterful works of Grand Canyon. Her style of work is often described as romantic naturalism—a hallmark of many great canyon painters and a style she’s refined for 12 years, beginning in Provence, France. Amery is proud to hold membership to the prestigious Oil Painters of America, California Art Club, and Grand Canyon Conservancy. In 2019, her work was selected as the cover for Arizona Highway Magazine’s February issue, dedicated to celebrating Grand Canyon National Park’s Centennial. Other print features have been included in Phoenix Home and Garden, Plein Air Magazine, Western Art Collector, and Southwest Art Magazine. When not painting at the edge of the canyon, she can often be found working in her studio and gallery based in the heart of Old Town Scottsdale or painting Mexican seascapes in Cabo San Lucas.
When portraying the canyon, it’s difficult not to rely on hyperbole. How else can we convey the vastness and the sublime that the canyon presents to us? As artists, we are so often tempted to portray dramatic sunsets, elemental weather, and austere cliffs to the point we can lose our appreciation for the inherent majesty of Grand Canyon. Nearing Golden Hour indulges in the quiet and contemplative nature of this landscape: it presents the warm afternoon light, sprawling depth, and restful calm you only experience after you sit and stay awhile. This piece began as a plein air study, created in the same area that’s rumored to house Mary Colter’s private bench. I imagine her taking in the same scene over a century ago, and I feel a kinship knowing we both enjoyed this landscape in its simplicity—no embellishment or dramatization, just admiration for the canyon and its grandeur.
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