Skullerud’s impressionist landscapes are loosely based on real things in real locations in the Puget Sound area.They are emotional portraits of a time of day, a weather pattern, or a season that have a familiar feel of the region.He wants viewers to know the beauty that’s visible every day, and to recognize the fleeting and subtle light that is gives the region its character and identity.
The geography of Seattle and Puget Sound is all about hills, valleys, rivers and waterways.Rather than landmarks, he paints the immensity, distance and space of the region’s topography, as well as its light, textures and flavor.
He sees mountains and urban hills as a performance stage for lighting.They are sculptural like muscles, 3D forms that serve to show off the cloud shadows and sun, the filtered light that changes from moment to moment with the seasons.They are, from a distance, textural.As cloud shadows slip up and over peaks, the textures take on new vibrancy or subtlety that shows in the small color changes washed and rewashed by distance and atmosphere.Skullerud sees a never ending movie that makes this part of the world a place worth living in.
Born and raised in Seattle, hiking the trails and mountains that ring us on both sides and influence his artwork to this day.His earliest art training was in junior high school when his parents hired a girl down the block to instruct me in painting and drawing.He also spent many an afternoon with his art teacher pedaling a clunky one-speed bike up and down the hills of Seattle to do plein aire paintings.
His first job as a professional artist began in 1978 as an architectural illustrator for Walter Dorwin Teague, a national industrial design firm.Four years later he opened the Skullerud Studio.Since that time he has moved through several periods, painting science fiction, surrealism, impressionism and abstraction.
During these phases, the Northwest landscape never left his consciousness.Its restrained colors, atmospheric light and emotional power find expression in his paintings.Add to that the delight of loosely controlled paint, and something gets loose on the canvas.
