There Are Places I Remember, an exhibition of watercolors by Kent artist Tom Auld, was on view at the Standing Rock Cultural Arts Center in Kent, through January 6th. The title was inspired by the song of that name by John Lennon. The 22 paintings were grouped under the place headings Maine, Washington State, Alaska, Portugal and Mexico.
Tom Auld retired from a career in marketing and advertising in 2008 and joined a small local painting group Sundays@One, coached by the watercolor artist Henry Walker. The group painted together for over a decade.
Auld says, “Painting with watercolors leaves little room for complacency and I find en plein air painting the most challenging. Changing weather, shifting light and shadow, moving subjects, all conspire to confuse.”
The paintings displayed at Standing Rock, however, were not in the least confusing. They were straightforward nature paintings that were charming depictions of light and shadow in simple landscapes from Maine to Mexico. The Maine paintings were reminiscent of some of early paintings by Andrew Wyeth. The works with figures seemed on the whole to be more evocative, even though Auld claims to dislike painting figures. In particular, the painting “Sebastian” and the painting of the beekeepers, “Apicultores de Sintra,” seemed the most poignant and expressive. Auld himself said “El Tuito Trio,” a painting of a sunlit yellow building with three girls sitting on a bench in the foreground, came alive for him only after the girls appeared. The figures seem to focus his paintings and give them a stronger character. The light in his sunset and nightscapes is beautifully captured, especially in “Lisbon Nocturne” with its reflected light on dark waters, and in the way he captures perfectly the feeling of twilight in “Alaska Says Goodnight.”
His designer background can be seen in the capable composition of all the paintings, with their combination of rounded and geometrical edges, and his sensibilities seem to suit the medium of watercolor beautifully.
It was a special pleasure to view the paintings in the charming, sunlit space of the Standing Rock Cultural Arts Center’s North Water Street Gallery. Kent is privileged to have such a space and organization.
See more paintings from the show here.
[Written by Lisa DeBenedictis & Tricia Hammann]
