“I’ve always gone outside to paint, because I’ve lived out in the country,” says Carolyn Lindsey, recalling times back on the ranch in her native Texas when “my husband would drop me off to go take care of the cattle, and I’d just paint cows and trees without the end of a painting in sight.” In those days, her more deliberately executed works were mostly figurative studio pieces, painted from a combination of life studies and photo references. Lindsey holds an MFA in painting from Texas Women’s University and has taught art in public school and community college.
Four years ago, after moving from Texas to the red mesas of Cuervo, NM, about 100 miles southeast of Santa Fe, Lindsey “wanted to do something different,” she says. “And I love going new places and seeing different things, so plein-air painting seemed like a natural progression.” She developed what she describes as “a loose style, representational but not realistic. I’m very much intrigued by the basic design and subtle colorations of what I’m painting.”
By way of example, she points to MORNING CHILL, which she painted one very cold, snowy morning during a visit to Moab, UT. “It was slightly overcast, and the sun was coming up and creeping through the clouds, and everything was so still. I wanted to convey that feeling,” she says—which she did in boldly brushed shades of gray, purple, and rose.
Lindsey finds great satisfaction in her new plein-air efforts. “There’s a spontaneity to it. And there are so many factors—the wind and the sun and the temperature, and the fact that you have to design the landscape because it’s never perfect,” she notes of the compositional challenges. “You have to move things around. If you’re honest, the ratio of success to failure is pretty slim. But when it does succeed beautifully, your painting is a little gem and should be treated like one.” To learn more, visit https://carolynlindsey.com.
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