“In wilderness is preservation of the world” 

henry david thoreau                                               

These works  are the result of  time in the company of  nature.  Accumulating an outdoor experience over the years has been important in  landscape painting. I find myself on a journey of surprising complexity and perseverance where working on location is an ongoing exercise in broadening  knowledge. Painting trees, clouds and rivers in deliberate study often means that many paintings won’t ever make it to a frame. These notes from the field become part an ongoing experience  where each painting contributes in some way to the next.

Painting in the tradition of the post-impressionists is not about  strict adherence to details. There is an engaging middle ground where fundamentals in realism yields to expressive abstraction of the elements. This is where creativity, intellect, experience  and passion for nature merge into artistic discovery .  Memory plays a huge part in composing paintings that speak to this and I am encouraged by the strong role this plays in my work.  Under its influence I imagine cool arrangements deep in the shade of trees and soft shapes of rocks under moving water; all things affected by particles of air, light, shadow and layers of memory.  

There is a constant balance in working with what I am seeing in the moment and what I know to be true in absence of the evidence.  Seeking truth in the sublime and painting in this realm is not about what I see in nature but more about how it feels when I am standing in it.  

 Gavin Brooks

Biography

Education 

Florida Atlantic University at Boca Raton, Fl  1982

College of Notre Dame Baltimore , Md. 1985

The Schuler School of Fine Art  , Baltimore , Md. 2002

Independent Study/Workshops

Scott Christensen Jackson Wyoming  2002 -2003

Juried Exhibitions and Awards

Oil Painters of America National Exhibition Taos  NM 2002

Oil Painters of America Exhibition Richmond  VA 2001

Paint Annapolis 2004 MAPAPA - Award of Merit  2004

Plein Air Easton 2005 Grand Prize Winner

Award of Excellence Plein Air Magazine 2005

Plein Air Easton 2006 - Best Pastoral Painting and Honorable Mention

Periodicals

Who’s Who in America 2006/2007

Fine Art Connoisseur  Feature August 2005

Ask Art /The Artist Bluebook 2005

Museum Collections

Academy Art Museum, Easton, Maryland

One  and Two Person Shows

McBride Gallery Annapolis 2004

Hole in The Wall Gallery,  Ennis,  Montana 2004

Addison Art , Cape Cod, Massachusetts 2005

Fraser Fine Art , San Francisco , California 2005

Ladew Topiary Gardens Museum 2006 

Memberships  

Plein Air Painters of the Southeast 

The Loudoun Society Ten, Executive Member

Oil Painters of America 2001-2005

Laguna Plein Air Painters 2003-2005