Greg Wallace & Denyse Fenelon

About the Process

We are both representational oil painters who create plein air paintings outside on location, and also in the studio. Our approach is to conjure a gestural resemblance that provokes familiarity. I admire visual representational efforts that seem to defy their own construction. Too much rigid formalism avoids the poetic muse we're after, so we attempt to conjure something that celebrates fleeting creative wonder; like a jazz improvisation built on formal understanding. The marks left behind are made in the service of being in the moment, just like our visual landscape is perennially in the moment and forever changing. The faith in a liberated process energizes the results. Plein Air Art as meditation. On the surface, plein air is an opportunity to paint first hand from life. No filter of cameras, computer screens deciding visual emphasis. And while there are often discomfort issues to deal with painting on location, the human eye is so much more nuanced and able to contend with direct observation of complex natural lighting. There is another component to being physically present which can provide an empathy that transcends a photograph brought back to the studio. The creative process goes beyond merely breaking down visual elements and formal representation. Searching for a subject, setting up, executing a value pre-sketch and then on into the actual painting process all demands a commitment to patiently invest the time to value the subject. Plein air painting is aspiring to be in the moment, being meditatively still, considering surfaces, form, the visual landscape enhanced by conversations with passers by. To be present through the act of of painting where mundane places begin to reveal a hidden tapestry unfolding.