Michael MacTavish paints enthusiastically from the heart, completing each work while the paint is still wet, a method known as “alla prima”.
The painting above “Valley Victorians” is a good example of MacTavish’s interest in using rural landscape and architectural motif while exploring broader issues of painting.
MacTavish is fascinated with the ephemeral qualities of light that can trigger memories and sensations of a particular time of day and year. And too, the painting celebrates the intimate feeling one gets from experiencing victorian craftsmanship and design.
“Valley Victorians” is about using time honored abstract principles of painting taught by the likes of Edgar Payne to make a representational work. The interplay of nature and architecture, the compositional design layout of light and shade shapes, the fusion of local and subjective color choices and the enthusiastic application of paint are often used forms of expression in Michael’s work; found in this painting.
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