Jack Bartlett

Statement

Ascensions and Descensions

I live on a clearwater lake in the woods, and I often sit on the porch of my studio in the morning and see the sun ascending through the trees and observe it descending in the afternoons, with its colors reflected in the waters. In winter mornings, the cold blue air seems frozen, and at other times, in the evenings the descending light seems like smoke and moves away rapidly, dissolving onto black. What I see is gone in minutes, arrested by the night, and I have to remember and create impressions of what I saw. I am blessed to be located in a sweet spot where I witness the glory of nature, light, shadow and color in my own front and back yard. I have painted, drawn, sketched and observed the views of this lake, these woods and skies so many times that I now paint from both observation and what I retain from memory. My hope is that these paintings may reflect my interpretations of what I see in God’s inexhaustible grandeur all around me.

-Jack Bartlett. June, 2024