Janis H. Sanders

 

July 2022

 

 

 

E x p r e s s i v e   I n t e n t i o n

 

Salt air, salt spray, sweet smell of summer grass, verdant marsh, an old house at the water’s edge, wind in

your hair, sun on your face.

 

These elements draw me outdoors, to the grassy dunes of Truro, the calm marshes of the North Shore, to

the rugged cliffs of Maine.

 

Many of my paintings are done en plein air, a method introduced in the mid-1800’s by Boudin and other

French artists, and pursued vigorously by the Impressionists, a name coined by an art critic in response to

Claude Monet’s work, “Impression, Sunrise”, 1872.

 

Each of my works is done as spontaneously as possible, with only minimal blocking in of forms.

 

I begin each painting with the sky, to me the most important element.

 

The sky IS light, some days slightly purple, sometimes hazy cream, clear aqua, rosy, peach, celadon; we are

immersed in it.  Sky is the key to determine the entire atmosphere of the painting, and visually and

practically provide the backdrop for other objects in view.

 

My self-assigned task for each work, is to convey the ethereal thing of light in paint, as the sun casts its

breath on the world.