Rolling California Hills
Oil on Canvas
There is something magical about the hills of California that has enchanted artists for decades. You would be hard pressed to find a better representation of that magic. Skinner has captured that sunkissed gold of the hills with the expanse that represent the Golden Coast.
About the Artist
I am a contemporary landscape painter focusing on the interplay of abstraction and representation. My current work’s focus is the beautiful terrain of Western North Carolina and its unique light and texture. I work with both acrylic paints and oils on canvas, paper, or wood panel. As a native Californian, I’ve always drawn inspiration from the San Francisco Bay Area school of painters of the 1940s and ’50s, with its vibrant colors and loose gestural brushwork. In my own work I rely on an enhanced color palette and try to keep my brushwork as loose as possible without letting the image dissolve into chaos, which involves a kind of give-and-take approach to finding resolution in the painting. This visual dance is what keeps me engaged with the process of painting, even after 25 years of dedicated practice.
Being a landscape painter is not simply a single-minded adherence to a certain subject matter. Instead, it is an extension of my passion for nature and my way of honoring what’s left of our undeveloped wilderness.