THE CHALLENGE OF THE MOMENT
For David Ballew, art is a fresh adventure into the unknown.

By Emily Van Cleeve

David Ballew’s paintings are born out of a spontaneous experience of the natural world around him. When he gets into the car and travels around northern New Mexico and elsewhere in search of his next landscape subject, he remains open to whatever he sees at the time. If he stumbles across a dramatic hillside with cottonwood trees swaying in the breeze in front of it, he may decide to change any previous plans to capture the scene’s transient beauty. It’s all about being in the moment, recognizing the particular beauty in front of him and trying to render it on the canvas.

Ballew is more interested in the essential qualities found in the vista around him than he is in portraying it in a literal, completely realistic way. At a distance, his paintings can appear quite realistic, but upon closer examination one can see an abstract quality to the work. Painting is all about really seeing, he says, and not just looking at a scene.

“I do small canvases on location so I can capture the light and color happening at the time as well as whatever else is unusual about the view that attracted me to it in the first place,” he relates at his cozy Santa Fe home/studio. “The light changes constantly, so I have to work quickly and stay focused on what I’m doing. I start with an idea of what I want to do, but I try to stay open should something else remarkable or unexpected happen while I’m painting. I have to feel an emotional connection to the subject or I have no interest in it. Larger paintings are done in the studio from these field studies, often combined with slides taken for reference.”

Ballew is constantly working to refine his technical vocabulary. While he usually understands his own emotional connection to a scene, he enjoys the challenge of figuring out how best to communicate what he’s seeing and feeling to the viewer. That requires a use of line, color, value, design, and paint application which is part analytical and part intuitive. He quotes the painter Harold Speed who wrote, “Great things are only done in art when the creative instinct of the artist has a well-organized executive faculty at its disposal.”

Ballew’s favorite paintings are as much about the process itself as they are about the subject depicted. He delights in the gesture of the brush against the canvas, how colors mix in accidental as well as intended ways, and how transparent washes of paint combine with thick pigment to give variety to the surface of the canvas.

For this reason, Ballew seldom works on a canvas that has dried. “I find that, at least for myself, continual adjustments and corrections diminish the vitality of the initial impression and destroy the beauty of the surface,” he observes. His images are easily recognized because they generate an unusually vibrant and captivating light, like the golden hues of native grasses in an autumn sunset or shimmering snow on a crisp winter day. And he strives to include only what is essential to convey his subject and its emotional effect on him, eliminating unnecessary or distracting details.

“I make sure that I start from a solid foundation with each piece,” he notes. “If it’s not going well, I’ll know it. I may throw away half my canvases if necessary. Furthermore, paintings have to happen from start to finish in one or two sittings. Otherwise, an important energy is missing.”

Exchanging ideas with other painters is as important to Ballew as it is to focus intensely on his location and studio work. He relishes the opportunity to learn from others and often seeks advice from artists whom he deeply respects. Painting trips are usually taken with friends, and close comrades are often in his studio discussing their own as well as his recent work. He looks forward to being in a quiet meditative relationship with the natural world when painting and being in the company of exciting and intelligent people when he’s done.

“Other artists help me refine my understanding and offer comments that are critical to my growth and development,” he explains. “I like the cross-pollination of ideas that comes from talking about art. I’m also concerned about not getting into a rut when I paint. That’s a very real danger for any artist. A trusted friend may see habits I’ve fallen into, or point out new directions to explore. It’s a real challenge to stay fresh and to be open to the moment.”

Art is an investigation, an adventure into the unknown for Ballew. If it became predictable and repetitive, he’d stop painting.

“I’m in a dialogue with my subject and with the experience when I work,” he says. “I’m absorbed in what’s happening at the moment, but I’m also fascinated by where the process is taking me.”