to learn how to make it, just decent vision and a pencil and paper.”

Describing his style as “somewhere between classical realism and contemporary naturalism,” Lipking credits observing nature as a wellspring of inspiration for many of his compositions: “Even when I’m on a hike, I’m always noticing the color, design and rhythms around me. In my work I try to recover the feeling I had when I first experienced those elements.”

Lipking also credits Richard Schmid for his artistic influence. "His book Alla Prima has everything a painter needs to know, and Schmid created representational figure paintings at a time when most of the art world considered them irrelevant."

A sense of allegory, mystery and mood arises from Lipking’s ability to home in on a good subject when he sees it. “Capturing a theme is what really makes a painting special,” he says. “That theme is different for every painting. It might be the one thing you notice first about the subject—something in the person’s character or color harmonies, light and dark shapes, a solid design or even the lighting.”

Contributing to the mood of his paintings is his characteristic cool, muted palette (see Lipking’s Palette, on the next page). The artist laughs as he relates how

his signature bluish background (see Reclining Figure in Kimono, on page 30 and Reclining Redhead, on page 32) came about at least partially by happenstance. “The color key of my paintings became cooler when I moved into my studio, which had walls of a medium-value blue. At first, I wasn’t fond of the effect, and I was going to repaint the walls, but after I did a few paintings there with a blue background, I started to like the quality of the light and the feel of the color.”

In advance of each new work, Lipking does several concept sketches, heeding his own counsel about incorporating drawing skills early in his process. Contrary to the current bias against using photos as source material, Lipking often photographs his models in varied poses for reference. “I really like the human form,” he says. “There are so many variables to the body that allow you to paint it in numerous ways. That’s especially true of the face with its multitude of subtle changes. Paintings of the same subject can have entirely different feelings, depending on the expression.”

Although he prefers to paint under natural light, Lipking encourages the use of “any tool that helps you to compose your own paintings, in the studio or out.” Case in point, while in the studio he often supplements

www.artistsmagazine.com ■ November 2008

Landscape
approach

■ By Jeremy Lipking

My process for painting landscapes is much the same as it is for painting the human form. Spring Waterfall (on page 37) is based on a scene I’ve painted many times, yet I find that this place never grows old or fails to entice.

I started with a 8x10 study painted en plein air. While painting, I carefully analyzed the light on the rocks and the movement of the water, recording what I saw for later use in the studio.