Gregory Stocks: Bold-Brush Tonalist

In mid-March I was doing one of my usual walk-throughs of Palm Desert's El Paseo area killing time while my wife was watching tennis at Indian Wells. El Paseo has a number of art galleries, and I finally decided that this would be the day to walk into some to find out what was new since last March. Turns out that there wasn't much of interest this time, though I did write down names of a few artists for further investigation.

One instance was the Jones & Terwilliger gallery (which is also found up in Carmel-By-The-Sea) that had several landscapes on display by Utah-based painter Gregory Stocks whose biographical note in his website is here.

Both links show paintings by Stocks whose commercial work is mostly landscapes that usually feature trees with autumn leaves and are painted boldly, but not wildly. Stocks has a very nice touch that is best appreciated when viewing his works in person.  He favors autumn scenes where he can tone down (mix in some opposite color) reds and oranges, etc. on the foliage while doing the same for grasses and and green leaves that are dark, yet haven't yet turned color. In a way, his color strategy is similar to that used by a number of American painters and muralists in the 1920s, something that for some reason has appealed to me for a long time.

Gallery

Autumn Stand

In Harmony

Distant Cloudbank
Not as strongly autumnal as the first two painting, but there are hints in the nearest clumps of trees. Also note the inclusion of orange, ochre and such for the grasses.  More distant grasses are greener due to the blueing of atmospheric perspective.

Homestead
A much different scene from the previous painting, but the same color strategy is used.

Mixing It Up
This seems to be a plein-air painting due to its small size (14 x 11 inches; 35 x 27.5 cm). Plenty  of bold, square-brush action here.