Leon Loughridge puts his emotional response to the natural and built environment in watercolors and sketches that he creates on location, later translating them into subtle woodblock prints.
Quarai Mission, woodblock print, ed. of 9, 10 x 14”
In his process of reduction printing, he maintains the freshness of his field paintings despite the technical precision required in the process. Values and color are built up as the block is carved down. He explains that the wood printing block “is carved and printed multiple times, reducing the printing area of the block in the process. Since the block is carved after a printing, it is no longer possible to reprint the previous color run as portions of that have been carved away. The beauty of the process is the spontaneity, the image being developed very similar to the plein air sketches.”
Fields of Gold, woodblock print, ed. of 16, 9 x 6"
At least a dozen new woodblock prints and paintings will be in his exhibition, Sacred Ground, at Gerald Peters Gallery in Santa Fe, New Mexico, from June 30 through September 2. The artist will create new prints in a gallery residency, July 11 through 15.
Like Cézanne returning to Mt. St. Victoire, Monet to the cathedral of Rouen and Andrew Wyeth to the Olson Farm in Maine, Loughridge revisits the landscapes and missions of the Southwest. “These familiar locations are a never-ending display of beauty,” he says. “They are sites where I am continually inspired, where I am familiar with the folds and creases of the land, so much so, that I can mentally step into the landscape and walk those folds while standing at my easel. As light and shadow dance across those folds and creases, the landscape becomes a living stage offering glimpses of artistic renderings.
Abo Mission Sunrise, water media on paper, 16 x 11"
“At what point does the land become a living entity in one’s mind? My constant return to these sites develops a symbiotic nurturing of spirit between myself and the land, where concern for the ground enlightens my own being. As one becomes more and more devout in caring for the landscape and observing its beauty, the ground begins to take on a sacred aspect, becoming a portal or apparition of a state of mind. My artwork from these sites are devotional statements of my encounters with the reality and beauty they offer.”
Rio Grande Gorge Track, woodblock print, ed. of 14, 11½ x 18½"
Works like Quarai Mission and Fields of Gold, elicit an emotional response in viewers, nuanced by their own experience of history and the natural environment. —
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