Jonathan Gaetke

My working process combines two of my greatest passions - an appreciation of nature and painting. This makes painting directly from nature my work environment, also called "plein air" painting. Nature offers an endless variety of subjects and challenges. What I choose to paint comes from an emotional response to a subject and, if done well, hopefully will be reflected back to the viewer. This could be anything from a simple light effect to the complexity of a grand vista. To take my subject matter and deconstruct it and put it back together in a visually clarified and interesting way is my goal. To achieve this goal, I continue to develop the skill sets necessary to have a command of the language of painting, i.e., drawing, value, color, and composition. Finally, painting for me is a self-revealing process that allows me to explore myself and the world around me in a most profound way.