Daring Methods, Daring Paintings

The word "risk" doesn't fully define the painting process of Brooks Anderson, but it does provide insight into what makes his work so moving. At every stage during the creation of a painting Anderson takes chances: he hangs over precipices to get the right vantage point; he mixes oil pastel and oil paint together; he works on canvases of intimidating size. And how does he perceive himself? "Less as a risk-taker and more of a conductor," he says. "The brush is my baton."

Although Anderson prefers to paint in the sanctuary of the studio?where he doesn't have to "fight with the elements"?he frequently travels along the West Coast to photograph and sketch on-site. "A lot of my views come from places where I'm holding onto a limb and photographing over a cliff," he says. "These are very precipitous areas, and they capture the unseen and unknown; I'm always on a search for the totemic. For me, it makes it more of an homage to paint a view nobody knows about. For example, Epiphany developed from a photograph I took while hanging on a limb 100 feet above the ocean. I snapped the picture and breathed 'thank you.'"

A final drawing may arise from one photograph or from a composite of many. The artist first outlines the major forms using large sticks of Sennelier and Holbein oil pastel. Preferring an exciting beginning, as opposed to the gray of graphite, Anderson often sketches in red. "The reds shine through my finished work quite a bit, adding a shock of color that makes the paintings pop," he says. He works on a grayish-toned canvas, a neutral base he considers a solid middle-value foundation. When he wants an "eggshell-smooth" canvas?his preference for paintings with fewer layers?he will apply a ground of 1/3 matte medium mixed into 2/3 gesso, which he brushes on and allows to dry. Then the artist sprays the surface with water and sands it, a procedure he repeats three times.

For Anderson, the first layers are the most important, because they form a base for everything that follows. "I block in pure colors using unmixed oil pastel," he says. "I then layer transparent oil paint combined with a lot of medium. It starts out like a Gauguin as I lock in pure color, but it ends up as a Brooks Anderson." To a combination of 1/4 cup of linseed oil and 1/4 cup of odorless turpentine, Anderson adds 2 tablespoons of Liquin to speed up the drying time and yield a "nice, beefy" coat of paint. If he is particularly eager to get painting the next day, he will mix the paint with Liquin alone.

Transparency is the key to the brilliant color in Anderson's paintings. As he explains his layering process in painting a sky, a critical component of his landscapes, "Over a yellow base of oil pastel I might paint the lightest rose color, allowing the undercolor to show through in pure Impressionist technique. When I have to mix oil