Original Pastel Paintings by Mike Flora  

December 9th - January 29th

"As a painter of landscapes, I employ color, value, and edge treatment to help transform a tow-dimensional surface into one that portrays the illusion of space and time, drawing the viewer in, encouraging pause and reflection. Not because this is an image never seen before, but instead evoking a retained experience like that which I've depicted. By calling forth a memory where they have experienced these same conditions of mood, lighting, and temperature I'm hoping to engage with the viewer through a shared experience of this natural moment in time and space. My part in these communions between artist and viewer is capturing the impression left behind for others to experience.

Painting on location is an iatrical part of the process because working in open air allows one's senses to be heightened, taking in so much more of the prevailing mood, lighting, and temperature than can be gleaned from a photo. This firsthand experience provides the landscape painter a more proficient response in creating field studies of finished works.

Currently I'm exploring a more abstract response to the natural world, focusing on form, color, and mood while deemphasizing subject specific details. Through this tonal impressionistic approach, I'm allowing the viewer to determine what is represented before them by each plane, shape, or dash of color that I'm presenting them."

-Mike Flora