Paul Keysar is a North Carolina artist who primarily paints landscapes and still lifes. His painting style is very realistic and representational, yet with a purity of form that hearkens back to classical painters of the past.
Take a look at a few of his paintings and you’ll see what I mean.
In Goose Creek, Virginia, there’s a type of perfection in the shapes of the trees, in the rolling hills, and in the placidly meandering stream. And yet the sky is alive and there’s moisture hanging in the air. . . so it still feels natural, and tangible.
That atmospheric quality is uniquely different in all of Paul’s paintings, and it’s obviously an important aspect of his work.
For instance, in Nellysford, Virginia, overcast skies offer a whiter, flatter light.
The composition is simpler than Goose Creek, Virginia, but with just as much depth due to a number of subtleties, one of which was adding just a bit more detail and slightly darker colors in the extreme foreground.
Paul also allowed blue to seep into the far-off hills to increase the sense of distance—along with the diminishing size of the rolled hay, of course.
His summer scenes are fantastic as well, like Harvesting, below.
I’ve always loved intense color, and that vibrant orange is especially powerful matched up against green trees and a clear blue sky.
And just like the two previous paintings, there’s a strong visual element (first the stream, then the hay, and now the orange field) which is clearly designed to pull viewers deep into the painting. It’s a tried and true method that Paul uses quite well.
To see more of Paul’s landscape paintings, check out www.paulkeysar.com or visit his painting blog at paulkeysar.blogspot.com.