Skip Whitcomb

Artful Painter Podcast

Jan 30

Written By Carl Olson

Purity of Vision

Episode 21

Episode length: 2 hours, 4 minutes

Also available on:
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Skip Whitcomb says the subject of a painting is the painting, not the subject itself! He reasons that the viewer will never see the actual subject. Therefore, we must make that painting as captivating and poetic as possible. It’s nothing more than paint on a canvas. This is what we attempt in its purest form. Skip states: “Once you internalize the language of painting, you never see the world the same way. It never leaves you. The veil of rational order is lifted and what hangs in the air are sensations of painted possibilities. On good days, some would call it poetry.”

Skip Whitcomb resides in Colorado. He has received numerous awards for his landscape paintings in oil and pastel. At the 2017 Prix de West Show in Oklahoma City, for example, Skip was honored with the Donald Teague Memorial Award, for best work on paper. Skip is an active member of the Plein Air Painters of America. In fact, it was at PAPA event at the Booth Museum of Western Art that I first met Skip.

In this episode of the Artful Painter, Skip shares his Five Principles of painting that each artist must master. His love of nature and geology are integral to his art-making. He is not a painter simply passing through the landscape of the American West, he lingers at each location, intently observing. Skip says his time outdoor painting is his opportunity to harvest ideas and concepts. Often visiting the same locations, these timeless places become like old friends who continue to delight you as you discover new things about them. Skip seeks purity of vision in his work.

“Once you internalize the language of painting, you never see the world the same way. It never leaves you. The veil of rational order is lifted and what hangs in the air are sensations of painted possibilities. On good days, some would call it poetry.”

— Skip Whitcomb