What I love about water – ocean, lake, river, waterfall – is how it is always changing. Plus ça change, plus c’est la même. Change is inevitable. The challenge is how to capture the depth, the movement. In my abstract, acrylic paintings, water sometimes looks like water, but it also sometimes looks like space or sky. Honestly, it’s not something I always control. Some paintings just happen.
What I love about water – ocean, lake, river, waterfall – is how it is always changing. Plus ça change, plus c’est la même. Change is inevitable. The challenge is how to capture the depth, the movement. In my abstract, acrylic paintings, water sometimes looks like water, but it also sometimes looks like space or sky. Honestly, it’s not something I always control. Some paintings just happen.
RUTH HURD
FINE ART
Representational
Picking the subject matter and eliminating the extraneous, understanding composition, learning to control the paint ... these early lessons took years to master.
And then I wanted to loosen it up and not be so precise. That journey continues in my Abstract section.
Much of the inspiration for my representational paintings came from where I was, the places I visited.
Alaska
Alaska was one of my earliest painting inspirations: beautiful watercolor landscapes.
Asia
Paintings of the various Asian countries I've visited show my movement from representational to abstract watercolors.
California
Paintings inspired by trips to California also show the movement from representational to abstract watercolors.
Caribbean / Central & South America
My paintings here run the gamut from a very representational flamingo to birds of paradise flowers that look like fish.
Florida
From 2001 to 2010 some of my best representational watercolors were about Florida.
New York
New York has provided endless inspiration, both urban (NYC) and rural (Upstate), and it's sometimes hard to tell which is which.
Still Life
Complicated set-ups at the Art Students League and apples on a porch have all provided inspiration.