Brent Cotton — Tonalism

Born in Idaho and in raised in Kansas, Brent Cotten was given a formative foundation in the life of an artist from his Grandmother. Starting in Watercolors and then taking a detour to soak in the lights and tranquility of fly fishing, Brent’s art career has been shaped by somewhat serendipitous meetings with artists and mentors. my became a highly acclaimed painter whos work now features in private collections across the globe.

1. Do you call or think of yourself as a Tonalist?
To be honest I”m not sure what to call myself or my work, although certainly a lot of my pieces would technically fall into those two categories I guess. Landscape painter doesn’t even really cover it as I like to depict a variety of subject matter, but yes, my work does tend to focus on mood and light. Perhaps the terms “luminist” or “moodist” might be better descriptions. I enjoy creating works with muted grays and little detail, but I also enjoy throwing a lot of color and drama into my pieces too. It kinda depends on the piece and what I’m going for. I’ll leave it up to the viewer as to what category to place me or a particular painting.

2. What’s been the story of your journey as an artist?
I was born and spent my early childhood on the family’s cattle ranch in south eastern Idaho, and my grandmother was my first art mentor. She would give impromptu art lessons on her big farm table with a big roll of butcher paper and colored pencils and markers. We lived just over the hill from Jackson Hole, WY and would frequently drive over to visit the galleries and museums. That was my first exposure to the idea of someone actually making a living as an artist.

My family moved to Kansas before I entered high school and under the guidance of an influential art teacher I attempted to try painting for the first time and fell in love with watercolor in particular. Following graduation I took a bit of a detour from my art goals and instead pursued my other love at that time which was outdoor pursuits, particularly fly fishing. Having spent a few seasons as a fly fishing guide in Alaska and doing my art on the side I decided to focus once again on my art full time which at this time was wildlife art and wood carving. I began taking painting workshops and met an artist from Oklahoma named Christine Verner who took my under her wing and really helped me gain an understanding of color theory and technique. She also introduced me to all kinds of genres of art that I didn’t know existed, and I really credit her with helping put me on the path I’m on now.

Plein Air painting became a focus for me in those early years and for about 4 years all I did was plein air work. That experience was invaluable for teaching me to see and reduce the scene down to the essential elements. I was becoming frustrated however that my paintings looked like everyone else’s and weren’t standing out. I needed to find my voice somehow.

4. What are the main objectives of your current approach?
I want to create works that captivate and draw the viewer in, maybe conjure up emotions or memories of similar scenes they’ve witnessed in their lives. I want to showcase my time here on Earth and show the activities and lived experiences that have shaped me as an artist and a man. Works that have a timeless quality and provide a sense of peace to the viewer, and hopefully show my love of the natural world, capturing moments that are fleeting and beautiful.

Much like the tonalists and realists of the past I’m moved to showcase the simple, perhaps rather mundane moments of rural life that also have a quiet beauty and sentiment.

5. What was the actual process or series of events that led you to paint as you do now?
After my frustration with my plein air paintings being adequate but not very distinctive I realized I needed to get into the studio and experiment with other ways of depicting nature and fortuitously two events happened in my life that caused a shift in my work. The first was a series of bad forest fires in Montana where I was living with my parents at the time. As terrible as the fires were they provided a haunting landscape of mystery and moody lighting effects that really excited me. I began a series of smoke and fire paintings that pushed me into the tonalism realm. That coupled with a move to the island of Maui where I lived with my new wife up on the slopes of Haleakala volcano, and was enveloped in clouds and mist almost every day further influenced this new direction. Playing with form and light rather than detail got me excited about painting again. It was also at this time that I started attempting to recreate the effect of backlighting and that still captivates me to this day.

6. Please describe a little bit of your painting process?
Truthfully I don’t do as much plein air painting as I would like these days. I like the controlled environment of the studio, and with the type of lighting effects I enjoy painting they’d be very difficult to paint on location as they’re so ephemeral.

Because I do so much backlighting in my work I’d probably burn out my retinas too. I will still go out and make some thumbnail color notes and composition sketches and use those along with photos and my imagination to create the scene. I typically use photographs just for composition or detail reference, the lighting and overall mood is quite often pure invention. I rely on memory more than anything as I spend hours just observing with my artists eye while pursuing other interests such as fly fishing and hiking.

I’m very much an intuitive painter, not always having a clear vision in my head of what I want the end result to look like. This method is risky however and I don’t really recommend it as it can certainly leave you wandering aimlessly around the painting hoping something will click. But on the other hand I do enjoy the painting process taking me in directions perhaps I hadn’t expected and that makes it fun and exciting.

My color palette is pretty limited for the most part; titanium white, cadmium yellow light, cadmium red light, raw sienna, transparent oxide brown, permanent magenta, and ultramarine blue. Quite often I’m only using the earth tones, white, and ultramarine and don’t even squeeze out the brighter colors onto the palette. Occasionally I’ll add another color, typically a transparent such as Pthalo green or something like that if I need a very intense green to glaze with etc.

I utilize quite a few starting methods and like to use big cheap hardware store brushes to get the major shapes and color tones on quickly. Sometimes I like to start with a high chroma underpainting and apply greyed or neutralized (I’m not sure of the proper terminology) over the top of it. And other times I like to do the opposite and start with a gray or umber colored underpainting and apply higher chroma color over top of that. Whatever I feel will help me achieve the desired effect. I rarely do any drawing on the canvas apart from just a few contour lines to define the shapes. I do a mixture of both alla prima work and layered paintings with lots of glazing and drybrushing/knifing. I like the layered approach better. Typically after the major shapes and composition is established I’ll put the brushes down and work solely with a palette knife from then on. I like to work much like a sculptor and carve into the shapes and create the form by working in a negative manner. I will also use paper towels to wipe off color or use my trusty thumb but the knife does most of the work.

I use liquin to help the layers dry quicker and allow me to move onto the next stages. I’m always experimenting with new mediums and types of paints including the water soluble oils. I like them but I seem to go back to liquin simply because it’s convenient and allows me to work in the way I’ve become accustomed.

Also, another way I work occasionally work is instead of tossing my palette scrapings from the day's session I use a knife to spread them on a new panel in an abstract manner. I continue to build up this color and texture in an interesting way and let it dry. I have dozens of these abstract panels in my studio and when I'm starting a new piece I go through them and find one that has the color tones or that will work with whatever scene I'm wanting to paint and leave a lot of this abstract underpainting show through. Sometimes I have no clue what I'm going to paint and I just start refining the abstract shapes often by doing some negative painting and let it take me where it will.

7. Can you describe how you decide on a composition, what makes it feel 'right' to you?
Well, again I’m kind of an instinctual painter and just kinda play around with it until it feels right. I wish I had a better answer for you than that. There are some amazing painters out there that can speak very scientifically about composition theory and such and if I were to study more perhaps I could vastly improve my paintings in that department. I do try to lead the eye somewhat but without being obvious or contrived. Moving shapes around either via thumbnail sketches or in photoshop helps me to decide upon a stronger and more dynamic composition. It’s such an individual thing,… what I find to be an appealing design might be regarded as lacking by others. I also sometimes find myself breaking the rules so to speak (such as putting the center of interest in the center) and I don’t think that is necessarily a bad thing if it feels right to you.

8. When would you regard a painting as being finished?
Ha, the age old question…..I guess for me it’s when I feel I’m at the point of diminishing returns and every subsequent stroke isn’t really adding anything of value to the painting and in fact is running the risk of spoiling it. Believe me I have to learn that lesson all the time! A lot of times I’ll look back at photos I take during the painting process and wish I’d stopped at an earlier stage. I’m more confident now in leaving larger areas understated, whereas in the past I’d have felt compelled to put more information in there. Being confident to say more with less and allow the viewer’s mind to impart the details is what I’m striving for. I guess for me it’s finished when I feel I’ve said what I wanted to say for that particular piece.

*Brent Cotton, Cotton Daybreak Somewhere in Montana*

9. Could you name any specific influences on your work?
So many influences over the years, too many to name……

Of course the great tonalists of the past; Inness, Tryon, Eaton, etc provide constant inspiration. The realists like Homer and Pleissner that have tonal qualities to their works along with the sporting aspect which appeals to me. Thomas Moran, to whom I have a personal connection of sorts as he camped on my great great grandparent’s ranch in Idaho back in the 1870’s.

The great illustrators Bernie Fuchs and Frank Frazetta have been big influences, as are Richard Schmid (the maestro), and James Reynolds (amazing understanding of color)

For contemporary living artists I admire again the list is long, but a few favorites would include: Jeremy Mann (fortunate to own one of his pieces) T. Alan Lawson, Doug Fryer, Jeremy Lipking, George Carlson, Morgan Weistling, and a host of amazing digital painters in the fantasy realm particularly.

A painting that really instilled in me the importance of mood is a piece in the permanent collection of the Wildlife Art Museum in Jackson Hole, WY. It depicts two lions in moonlight titled “Silent Watchers” by Arthur Wardle. The mood in this piece stopped me in my tracks, and gives me goosebumps every time I look at it. One powerful painting.

Books that have helped more of the years are David Clevelands “History of American Tonalism” What a feat of research and a necessary addition to any artist wishing to paint in the tonalism genre.

Richard Schmid’s wonderful “Alla Prima-Everything I know about Painting." I poured over this book and got paint all over the pages while next to my taboret. George Inness and the Visionary Landscape; when I started to explore tonalism this was my bible.

James Reynolds “Traildust” This book and his later landscape book helped me so much in understanding color, composition and paint application. “The Life & Art of Bernie Fuchs” is also a book that I reach for when I’m struggling or need some direction on a piece.

10. Any advice for the aspiring painters?
Be true to yourself and what you want to say in your work. Avoid jumping on the latest trend or what the galleries are telling you is hot. I think a lot of artists struggle with finding their voice and style and sometimes all that needs to happen is let to let it develop naturally without forcing it. Technique and skill is easier to learn than coming up with good ideas and interpreting them in your own unique way. I too worried about that. I took bits and pieces of information from artists along the way and tried to apply them to my own work, slowly my style started to emerge but honestly most of the time I feel like I’m winging it. I guess that’s what makes this crazy pursuit so fun and knowing that you’ll never master it.

Once an artist has found some success the temptation to plow the same ground is pretty strong. It’s an easy rut to fall into. That’s not to say you shouldn’t continue to explore that subject but you should always strive to push yourself to grow and experiment and keep it fresh. It will show in your work, you’ll stay more excited and so will your collectors. I try to take the time to experiment with pieces that might not ever leave the studio, which isn’t always easy when you have deadlines and expectations and bills to pay but I feel it’s important. Be open to changing styles, subjects, etc. What inspired me 20 years ago might not necessarily excite me today and what I would have passed by then I find interesting now. Who knows what I’ll be painting or sculpting 10-20 years from now. I’m excited for the possibilities.

11. Saving the big question for last: What is art’s purpose in the world?
That is a great question and I’m really not the best to answer it in a very profound way. In my mind one of its primary purposes is to beautify and elevate our existence. I’m just a simple man who enjoys painting scenes from my life and hopefully the pieces I create resonate on some level with people both today and into the future, and give them a glimpse of my time here on this planet. I live and work in the beautiful Bitterroot Valley of Montana; with my wife and two children. I feel very fortunate to be in a place where inspiration abounds all around me.

I've been asked over the years what some of my favorite paintings are, and any memorable comments on them. Fortunately I’ve reached a point in my career that I’m able to hang onto some of my favorite pieces, I couldn’t really afford to do that prior to now. Some works have gotten away from me and I wish I could have them back.

Some of my favorite works depict scenes that depict memorable moments from my life; portraits of my wife and kids, settings of sporting pursuits or experiences I’ve had with family and friends on the river or in the field, etc. Others are favorites because I feel they were particularly successful from a technical standpoint or marked an improvement in some way. Some stand out for the way they impacted the folks that view them, nothing is more gratifying than hearing the comments and reactions on how my paintings affect them. I once had a lady tell me, “your artwork makes me remember things I've never seen” I love that