Three years ago, renowned landscape painter Doug West started meditating. The artist, now based in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, notes that the act of painting is also a form of meditation, especially when working on one small area. This mentality has given rise to a new collection of work in Time and Space, a show of large-scale landscape paintings to be featured at Blue Rain Gallery. 
Elysium Fall, oil on canvas, 48 x 72"
“There’s a serenity to the work that I attribute to what I enjoy when I get a clear mind space from all the internal chatter,” says West. “That’s always been my signature, and this [series] shows that to a greater degree.”
West’s intention is to depict moments of solitude, timelessness and a meditative state while capturing the spirit of a given place. The majority of the new works feature specific locations in New Mexico, West’s home for many years and one that inspired him greatly, and also ocean scenes, a departure from his landscapes, to show views of his current home in Mexico. 
The Evening Tide, oil on canvas, 60 x 48"
West will display new pieces such as The Evening Tide, a view of the Baha, a mere 15-minute drive from his home that he describes as an “ideal beach; a beautiful crescent cove.”
“I gravitate towards wide open spaces, like the ocean or the general landscape of New Mexico,” West says. “Landscape has been the focus of my career and it has to be my connection to nature. Growing up in Southern California, my father use to take me on extended trips to Yosemite and to the Mojave Desert. At that time, nobody would be around, where now [these locations] are crawling with people. Those experiences greatly affected me.”
While he began his career as a serigraph printmaker, landscape painting was his true passion. West found the landscapes of Santa Fe, for instance, to be so pristine. He continues to make this location the focus of his work.
West Mesa Veil, oil on canvas, 48 x 48"
In Elysium Fall, a view of the Chama River near Ghost Ranch in Northern New Mexico, one can see the dedication to his subject matter, along with sharp edges and defined spaces influenced by his past as a printmaker. Blue Rain Gallery describes his painting style as having “crisp clarity” and a “striking graphic quality inspired by his earlier experiences.”
West uses his own photographs as a reference in his distinct style to capture the essence of a place. He collages over his photos with other photos of clouds or a scene that shows a rich lighting condition. “Most of the photographs are just a point of departure,” says West, “then, at a certain point, I want to represent a given place correctly and I start reacting to the painting. Eventually, it becomes process driven.”
Southwest Gothic Revisited, oil on canvas, 40 x 48"
Beginning with an artist’s reception on October 8, West will display his new body of large-format paintings featuring what Blue Rain Gallery describes as “arroyos that meander on forever while channeling through epic canyons containing diverse plant life and changing strata; rugged, arid mountain ranges that sprout out of nothing and reach to the sky like gothic cathedrals…” —
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