Eric Fidjeland

Artist Statement

Watercolorist Peter Hurd once defined art as “an enduring record of man’s emotional response to his environment”. I subscribe to that definition and feel my work reflects this. I find myself drawn to painting scenes that reflect a sense of tranquility, of finding beauty in unexpected places – whether they are rural or urban – and of almost meditative simplicity. I am fascinated by light and its subtleties, be it the bright, golden light and deep blue-violet shadows of a summer evening or the muted, cool light from a sunless window playing across the skin of an apple.

I use professional grade paints on Arches 140 lb. Cold-pressed paper, materials that are well suited to capturing the fleeting transparent effects of light. I take a realist approach to painting, striving for balance between representation and subtle abstraction that allows for a certain level of individual interpretation on the part of the viewer, but portraying realistically the combination of factors that spark my “emotional response”, especially the light of a particular place and time of day, its effects on the objects that it illuminates as well as on the surrounding atmosphere, and the overall mood it creates.