Harley Bartlett - Lighting the Landscape

A New Englander in home, heritage, and spirit, Harley Bartlett has dedicated himself to Northeastern landscapes for over 30 years. The marshy coast of the Narragansett Bay and the deep forests and grand trees of the Great North Woods of the Adirondack Mountains are replete with memories going back to a childhood influenced by both art and the outdoors. Speaking of this relationship, Bartlett explains "I recall emotional responses of mine as a child to color and light in nature. Its beauty was impactful and when I saw paintings that evoked that quality, I was captivated." While Bartlett casts a wide net as a muralist, portrait painter, and decorative designer, his fine art career has been defined by an enduring desire to express his thoughts on the landscape.Like a sportsman in pursuit of game, Harley is always scouting for the "paintable." Though whether he captures the landscape or the landscape captures him is a valid question. "I respond to the visual world much in the same manner that music can have to our emotional soul. I find that something will trigger a visual response and I work to capture that in my pictures," says the artist. Most of his paintings begin with a swiftly executed plein-air sketch, but the real work takes place in the studio, where the artist is in complete control of design, composition, color, and paint application. It is here that Mr. Bartlett assumes the role of theatrical director, imaginatively engaging with the landscape and using the elements of picture-making to draw out the drama of each scene. Like a scenic designer, setting and lighting the stage, Harley uses light to direct the viewer's eye and establish mood in his works. Expressive cloudscapes dominate his skies and people, animals, or boats occasionally find their way onto the boards.In this way, Harley Bartlett adds his emotional and intellectual perspective to the vast tradition of both European and American landscape painting. His studio paintings, drawn from direct observation, are colored by nostalgic memory and lit by a stirred imagination to reveal a world of his determining. The truth of his work is fresh and particular while maintaining a link to the timeless and the universal. Reflecting on his work, Bartlet explains, "If near completion, I have created a picture which has a sense of place and in it, beauty, then I have done something."