Christine Ritchie

"As an artist, I am most interested in the process and the intrinsic qualities of the medium in which I am working. The qualities of the surface, the mark, and the relationships of color... the idea that one mark or stroke demands the next; combine to involve me as an artist in the creative process. My work with the figure involves my interest in the qualities of figurative movement, and the idea that there is a "shared” sense of the figure moving through space, that creates an identifiable rhythm that belongs to and is solely recognized by all as human. I am working towards a "language" in paint to communicate that common shared experience. Besides my work with the figure and my interest in the qualities of figurative movement, I have spent the past 10 years or so doing Plein Air painting trips in Italy,France, Belgium,California and New Mexico in the summer months. My approach to the painting is always as an Alla Prima painting but the landscape and its spacial qualities and changing light has its own challenges. Being one with and in Nature is its own reward. The painting is a memory of that experience.