THE INCREDIBLE BEAUTY OF THE MOMENT
Don Brackett finds endless inspiration in painting the outdoors on location.

By Emily Van Cleeve

Painting is as natural as breathing for artist Don Brackett. It’s rare that a day goes by when he isn’t either loading canvases into his van, ready to roam the countryside in pursuit of a great scene to paint, or settling into his home studio for a full day of work on partially completed canvases. For more than 30 years he’s been working daily and side by side with his wife, painter P.J. Garoutte. The couple’s home in Taos provides the perfect base for daily painting trips to catch the essence of northern New Mexico’s exceptional beauty. He intimately knows every mountain road from southern Colorado’s San Luis Valley to the Mora valley southeast of Taos, and enjoys areas to observe and paint seasonal changes.

“As I render one scene I get ideas for the next painting I’ll do of the same area,” Brackett says. “I love working on location. When I paint with real life in front of me, I can respond to the beauty of that moment.”

His style of capturing landscaping is loose and not literal. “I view my brush strokes as painterly,” he confides. “I want to keep my scenes loose but recognizable.”

While Brackett could remain forever satisfied with focusing his attention on northern New Mexico and southern Colorado, he likes the challenge of visiting new places and experiencing different architectural features, terrain, and lighting conditions. Last fall he and P.J. took a two week painting trip to southern France with a small group of other American artists. A bus dropped the group of painters off at a particular location in the French countryside or in a town square and came back at the end of the day to pick them up. Brackett paints on canvas mounted on a lightweight board for traveling. Once a scene is located, he picks out an area that excites him.

“l look for the center of interest first, which is how I began each painting. If the center of interest happens to be an architectural feature, such as a house or a cafe, I might lightly sketch it in charcoal before applying paint to the canvas.”

Although Brackett has painted abroad before, he particularly liked the historical French villages with their narrow cobblestone streets, church steeples, and crumbling buildings. As he listened to hourly chimes ringing throughout town squares he would imagine how these quaint scenes have remained virtually unchanged for the past 500 years.

He also loved the coast and the gently rolling countryside filled with warm golden light and muted colors. Two weeks was barely enough time to experience the flavor of the area and enjoy the locals’ warm and welcoming continental hospitality, he reflects. Of the 25 landscapes and town scenes he created during the trip, he returned home elated over the wonderful French countryside and villages.

Art and the southwestern landscape have been in Brackett’s blood since childhood. He’s a native of Albuquerque who spent three years in the Marines after graduating from high school in the 1950’s. For a while he was stationed in Hawaii, a place he loves to visit and paint. When he returned to the mainland he attended the University of New Mexico as a fine arts major under the tutelage of Taos painter Kenneth Adams. The move to Taos was made in 1988.

Years ago Brackett used to paint in watercolors and is a member of the American Watercolor Society. He received the Ford Times Award from the American Watercolor Society of New York and Best of Show from the New Mexico Watercolor Society, plus many other awards as well. The switch to oils took place 20 years ago. While watercolor’s flowing qualities have their appeal, he enjoys the texture of oils and the way they build up on canvas.

“Even if I never wandered more than a mile from my home I wouldn’t run out of subject matter,” he notes. “There’s so much to see during the different season and weather conditions in northern New Mexico. There’s an endless supply of material here to keep me busy for years.




Ranchos Church Hollyhocks


Autumn Storm