Mikel Wintermantel Landscapes: Capturing Fleeting Beauty

By admin on August 9, 2018

Like their real-life inspirations, Copley Master Mikel Wintermantel’s landscape paintings can take your breath away. While each painting takes viewers on an inspiring trek through richly-colored natural wonders, they also act as a means to heighten one’s awareness of nature’s slow disappearance. Therefore, Wintermantel’s solo show “Evanescent” earnestly captures natural landscapes to document their disappearing beauty.

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Evanescent Twilight, oil on copper, 13 x 17”

Surrounded by vast stretches of the hills and rivers of Allegany, NY, Mikel has a strong connection to woodland landscapes. He is particularly fascinated by how lighting and luminosity affect a scene’s mood, whether it be a bright sun pouring onto a field, or a brooding storm cloud darkening an ocean view. As light changes so rapidly in nature, Mikel is keen on capturing the precise moment before the light disappears. This sense of urgency is evident in each of his “Evanescent” paintings, as the light creates dramatic, awe-inspiring landscapes.

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Cantankerous, oil on copper, 14.25 x 14.25”

Take for example Mikel’s oil on copper painting Cantankerous. Here, black, gray, and purple storm clouds dominate the space as they menacingly hang over the dark ocean water. But at the same time, the sun emerges from the horizon, illuminating the far-off edges of the sky with warm gold and orange hues. This interplay between light and dark captures the sudden moment when the mood shifts from misery to hope.

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Last Light in the Wilderness, oil on copper, 8.25 x 14.25”

Like Cantankerous, each “Evanescent” painting shows how changing light creates fleeting moments in time. For instance, Last Light in the Wildnerness is awash in orange hues to signify the temporary colors during a sunrise, and Moonlit Marsh features an a-typical, orange-colored moon in a purple night sky.

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Moonlit Marsh, oil on copper, 8.25 x 14.25”

And like these fleeting changes in natural light, Mikel’s landscapes go further to emphasize that nature itself is short-lived. Mikel incorporates lush color palettes and dramatic lighting to heighten the atmospheric beauty of a landscape, knowing full well that these beautiful moments in nature may become rare. Ultimately, the paintings in “Evanescent” serve as a way to document mother nature’s timeless beauty, while reminding us that our remarkably beautiful natural surroundings are slowly fading away.

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Whispers in the Dusk, oil, 15 x 15”

“Evanescent” is on view in the Back Bay Room through August 19th. Read more about the Mikel Wintermantel and his oil on copper landscapes in our blog.

 

Banner Image: Mikel Wintermantel, Finish Line, oil on copper, 14 x 16″

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