Page 54 - The Hunt - Fall 2024

KEEPING IT REAL
many years in Centreville. “I think trying to capture the character and personality of the person is most important,” she says. “I began with supersoft realism but gradually evolved into doing more brushwork than I once did. I rarely have someone sit for a painting, as
I prefer instead to take a series of photos to work from.”
Most times, Reynolds will also do detailed charcoal sketches—works of art in themselves—before putting brush to canvas. She regularly changes details—not of the subjects, but the settings or backgrounds. “I think people expect for me to do something
a little different,” she says. “Otherwise they would just have a photograph taken.”
No one has ever accused Centreville- based Jon Redmond of being too photographic in his paintings—though his PAFA training would certainly allow him to do so if he desired. “I like to push the boundaries of realism,” he says of his style. “I consider myself a painter of observation. My best paintings combine realism and the abstract capabilities of paint.”
Redmond is known for painting in a small format, often captured en plein air by cycling into the rural countryside. Intrigued by how light falls on particular subjects, he certainly isn’t afraid of color.
To illustrate his style, Redmond references a recent painting of a lead cow
in front of other cattle in a milking barn. “She’s very detailed, and the rest of the cows behind her look natural,” he says. “Cover her up, and you might even have difficulty telling that the rest of the painting is of cows in a barn. My backgrounds—or things off to the side—may be more impressionistic, but those are the things in real life you only see out of the corner of your eye.”
If Redmond is focused on what we
see out of the corners of our eyes, Sarah McRae Morton is intrigued with what
we imagine in the corners of our minds.
In her hands, a painting of a horse might suddenly go from detailed realism to dreamlike haziness. “I draw inspiration from this landscape and history as much as the setting of my upbringing,” Morton says.
It’s interesting to note that Morton, Sculthorpe, Redmond and Reynolds—all PAFA alums—draw inspiration and subject matter from the rural tradition of the Brandywine region, yet their interpretations of realism vary greatly. “I’m often reminded of something said by William Faulkner: ‘The past is never dead. It is not even past,’” Morton says.
It’s also worth pointing out that one of
the region’s most respected local artists, Robert C. Jackson, didn’t attend PAFA
and seldom paints rural landscapes. He prefers realistic still-life depictions of
balloon characters, drink cartons and books. “Without question, I’d be in the realism camp or at least real-ish,” says the Kennett Square artist, who can often be found at Talula’s Table enjoying his morning coffee. “What
I paint appears real to the viewer, though I’m quick to embrace a pop of sensibility or
a touch of humor, bend the truth, and work very conceptually. Hopefully, it comes across that I’m just being myself.”
Which is about as “real” as it gets. TH
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THE HUNT MAGAZINE fall 2024