Lorenzo Chavez

The Creative Process

RF: You’re from New Mexico and lived many years in Colorado until you moved to Oregon. What prompted the move?

Chavez: My wife and I had been searching for another place to live, a smaller community than Denver. We wanted something unique and different, something that would affect my painting. We drew a vertical line on a map of the United States and decided that we’d consider anything from Colorado west. One place I had not explored in depth was the Northwest but I always thought it was intriguing. We found this place in Eugene that is an hour drive to the coast and an hour to the mountains and another two and half hours to desert country that is reminiscent of Colorado or New Mexico. I have access to a lot of varieties of subject matter. This portion of the country is so different, it almost feels like it’s a world apart, it doesn’t fit with the West.

RF: How has the move influenced your work?

Chavez: It’s changed in subtle ways. The first summer here was glorious, it opened up my pallet. Also, with the heavy atmosphere I’m getting softer edges. But my first response to this place was that it was so foreign. It took me a year or two before I realized that I wasn’t on an extended painting trip. It made me realize that I’m directly affected by my environment more than I ever thought. I feel my best work comes when I paint a place I know more intimately. It’s a long process getting to know a place. It’s like forming a relationship, sometimes it happens fast, sometimes it takes awhile. Another profound change has been that I’ve picked up oil painting again.

RF: What do you think caused that?

Chavez: When I moved here I found myself limited, primarily because of the weather. There were a number of days where there was mist in the air and I’d have to sit in the car to paint, which I’m not comfortable with because I like to stand. I was getting so frustrated doing my pastels. I went back to painting in oils because I could stay outside even if it started to rain. I did a complete switch from where I was doing almost one hundred percent of my sketches in pastel to now where most of my sketches on location are in oil.

RF: So, do you prefer painting in pastel or oil?

Chavez: I don’t really prefer one over the other. They are both different and very unique and one helps the other. Pastel is a dry medium. It’s very physical and immediate. You can quickly go over colors without waiting. But since they are premixed I have to look for each tone. While I’m painting I sometimes think a color could be a little grayer or a slightly different shade but I’m limited to the colors I have. The subtleties are what I enjoy with the oils. I can mix anything with a limited selection of colors on my pallet. I can really analyze color more intensely and get as close as possible to the actual colors I see in nature.

RF: What do you find is the biggest challenge in painting for you? 

Chavez: Everything. It continues to be challenging and is more challenging that ever. I demand more from myself. I’m always trying to get to different levels, express different things.  

RF: In your work, what makes a successful painting?

RF: Why do you prefer landscape?

Chavez: The landscape, I connect to it on a personal level. There’s a very thrilling yet  soothing and comforting feeling I get. I don’t get that from other subject matter. It has more of a calming affect on me. I find when I am outdoors I lose my sense of self. It’s frightening on one hand -- I feel as if I’m in a trance, I can disappear into a landscape. 

RF: What is the difference between painting on location and in the studio?

Chavez: Painting on location is the search for truth. It’s about being in the moment. The sun is constantly moving. It’s this compressed, highly focused time. That’s probably one of the biggest differences: you have limited time. In the studio, I can take all this information and analyze it. I’m not fighting moving shadows. I can step away from something and study it. Outdoors there’s more energy in the work, accidental strokes. It’s not haphazard, though. It’s so alive. You get these animated strokes that you sometimes lose in the studio by over thinking.

RF: How do you start a painting?

Chavez: Often times I approach a landscape with a design in mind. Sometimes it’s a quiet understanding that comes to me and I just know what to paint. It’s not always natural – I don’t always paint it as it is. I simplify and make things into abstract shapes. I’ve always been attracted to the work of abstract expressionist painter Franz Kline. When I painted Spring Thaw I was thinking about how he might approach the painting. I looked for patterns when I started. I wanted to show the transition of seasons. I’m especially inspired by that contrast of light and dark, warm and cool, and the two seasons coming together.  

RF: How do you capture a constantly changing scene like waves or moving clouds?

Chavez: I do gesture drawings. After doing that for a while I find a sense of the rhythm of nature. The more you sit and watch the more you start to understand the rhythm. The movement is fascinating and full of life. It’s an on-going lesson. I’m always working to add more and more life to my paintings as I go on. Things that help me are just doing it, feeling it, and trying to put that in a painting.

RF: Do you see the world as one big painting?

Chavez: Well, yes and no. I can take any scene and make a painting but the things that really make it meaningful are a little more elusive. My painting is about being connected. As far as landscape, I think there are endless possibilities but I think you have to cultivate that insight to see those possibilities. I’ve been fortunate to go overseas and I think it’s wonderful but it makes me feel like I have so much more to paint right here. I see more opportunities in the ordinary landscape around my home.

RF: What do your paintings say about you? Do they reflect who you are? 

Chavez: I used to think it was all outside influences but now I think who I am affects how I see things, what I paint, and my approach. I’m too close to my work to really see it but I think my feelings sometimes come across in subtle ways.

RF: New Mexico Chamisa must have a strong connection for you then.

Chavez: Yes, that’s home. As I look at it, I imagine myself back there. I feel the rhythm of the day. There’s a lot of love in that painting. I wanted to express my deep love of the Southwest. I hope what comes out in my painting is my love of the land. I hope that somehow the message comes through because one of the best feeling is when I’ve connected with someone, when they say, ‘I know that place, I’ve been there’. That’s the best.