Paul Folwell Art
WELCOME
I'm a sucker for a dirt road. Here's what I like about the West: the Salmon, the Big Sandy, the Laramie, the San Juans, the Lost River Range, the Confusion Mountains, the Nebraska Sand Hills. Elko County, Nevada; Wayne and Garfield County, Utah; Rio Arriba County, New Mexico; Escalante, Utah; May, Idaho; Red Lodge, Montana; Burns, Oregon.
These are places I like for no particular reason. I also enjoy the smell of sagebrush after a rain and watching how the rain has washed the sky. I want to watch the sun rise and set anywhere in the West. I like sitting outside my studio watching the way the light falls on a 55-gallon oil drum. These things must be painted on location. Otherwise, you can't smell the sage or hear the birds sing.
This is why I am a painter.
Jet Set
Happy Tracks
This one is all about motion and delight — the feeling of carving through soft powder and letting gravity and instinct do the rest. Happy Tracks is painted loosely and energetically because that’s how skiing feels when it’s perfect: fleeting, wild, and completely free.
Wizard
This piece came out of a day of deep snow when the mountain felt alive. The skier disappears into the spray, becoming almost part of the storm — a wizard of snow and motion. I wanted the colors to swirl and blend so the eye could feel the energy as much as see it.
Winter Picnic
There’s something about cross-country skiing that’s as much about companionship as it is about the trail. Winter Picnic celebrates that — two figures moving easily through a quiet field, their bright jackets the only splash of color against the snow.
East Needles
I enjoy painting, especially open spaces. By that I mean without human evidence. The minute you put a barn, house, animal, or human in a painting or photo, it becomes the center of interest. Placing these elements in a landscape can detract from the emotions the artist wants to convey.
