Featured Artist Rebecca Fullerton

Oil painter Rebecca Fullerton presents a portfolio that captures the landscape of New Hampshire in all seasons. See more of her work on her website.

 

 

The silence of an alpine meadow is broken only by the crunch of my boots on the trail. A tapestry of stunted spruce, rocky crags and flowers stretches before me, visible until a fresh wave of clouds sweep in.

 

 

I am alone on a high ridge in the White Mountains of New Hampshire. At times I’m able to see for miles, but once the clouds roll in, I can barely see the next stone cairn ahead. The feeling is nothing short of exhilarating.

 

 

Way up in the northern part of the state, I live just outside the 800,000 acre White Mountain National Forest. This place is my main subject as a painter. I paint with an eye toward promoting conservation of this incredible Northeastern landscape.

 

 

I do a lot of hiking here, but these excursions are not merely walks in the park. Each hike is a study in color and light, an observation of texture and form. The play of shadows on a weathered rock face, the fiery hues of a sunset reflected in an alpine pond, the intricate dance of branches against a canvas of twilight sky. I collect all of these gems via sketchbook, canvas, memory and camera, bringing them back to my studio to develop into full fledged paintings.

 

 

Oftentimes, I will pack a small watercolor kit, or if I’m feeling ambitious (and don’t mind the extra weight), I take a pochade box, tripod and a couple of 8×10 inch gessoed panels. I hike for a couple of miles to a spot with a view I think has potential, set up, and paint until the weather or the light changes. These excursions may produce studies, nearly-finished paintings, or just inspiration for larger works. With so many places to see and explore, I will never run out of gorgeous natural scenes to paint.

 

 

I did not start out as a landscape painter. Growing up, I would say I didn’t adhere to any particular style. In the small studio art program I attended at Hartwick College, I settled on watercolors as my primary medium, but I flitted around subjects, from figures and animals to surreal compositions.

 

 

It took over ten years beyond college to arrive at landscape painting in oils on canvas and panels, and many more before I lived in a place surrounded by forests, rivers, lakes and peaks that I could access at any time.

 

 

I like to think of my work as love letters to the mountains. They are dramatic expressions of my experiences, imbued with the sweat, hunger, exhaustion and thrill of long days spent hiking these relatively small but rugged mountains of the Northeast.

 

 

There is a deep satisfaction in creating something beautiful from the raw materials of my adventures. It is a way of giving back to the mountains, of sharing their magic with the world. It is also a way of claiming my space in this wild and wondrous place.

 

Rebecca Fullerton invites you to follow on Facebook and Instagram.

 

 

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