Colt and Jennifer Idol have two children and, at the time of this writing, another on the way. When he gets home from school, their 9-year-old son sits down at his easel next to his dad’s and paints for about a half hour. The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree, as they say.
Backcountry Bliss, oil, 16 x 48 in.
Idol has been making art his whole life and learned painting next to his father, Dick Idol, after an injury brought an end to his hoped-for athletic career. “Today, my dad critiques my work. He’s incredibly knowledgeable and can dissect a painting very well. When I was growing up, we would go to museum and gallery shows and he would spend time showing me what’s working and what’s not working. “Jennifer will also come into the studio and make observations about the paintings in very helpful non-art language.”
Idol’s latest work will be shown in Western Experience at Coeur d’Alene Galleries in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, beginning November 13.
The painter’s Western experience is lifelong, having been born and raised in Bigfork, Montana, before his family moved to nearby Whitefish, where he and his family live today. He spent his youth hiking, fishing and camping and absorbing the experience of the landscape.
View From Above, oil, 30 x 30 in.
“When I was growing up,” he says, “the concept of Western art was much narrower, mostly cowboys and Indians, pioneer times and westward expansion. Today, it’s much bigger, including landscapes, barns and grain elevators, Native Americans and wildlife. They’re all a huge part of the Western experience. I want to have a little bit of all of those in my work.”
I asked him about the dramatic light in his paintings. “I never planned on becoming one of the light painters—that’s often how my work is categorized,” he says. “My paintings are about color, light, edges and composition. I was uneducated when I started and my use of color and light came out of naiveté. I learned that I could push color and light to the edge of believability and fantasy but still stay in the realm of believability.”
In the enveloping, 4-foot-wide painting Backcountry Bliss,the mountains in the distance have sharp edges against the clouds and the bright spot of the setting sun. The reflection of the sun and clouds on what he calls the “soft fuzzy water” are painted wet into wet, allowing paint to express its viscous qualities rather than his control of it along the edges of the mountains.
October Reflections, oil, 44 x 60 in.
He draws in pencil on his blank canvas—mostly just lines—and fixes the drawing before painting a mid-value neutral ground. “It’s hard to make decisions on a white canvas,” he says. “I usually start with a lot of paint addressing macro issues with a big brush. I let it dry and the return for a second pass, adding value, softening the edges and adjusting the composition. After the second pass has dried, I make a final pass with glazing.”
Although he may use a reference as he begins a painting, the process is guided primarily by feeling and memory. —
Coeur d’Alene Galleries 213 Sherman Avenue » Coeur d’Alene, ID 83814 » (208) 667-7732 » www.cdagalleries.com
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