Workshop: Painting: Simplifying the Landscape - With Mark Vander Vinne

Mark Vander Vinne (pronounced VAN-der Vin) paints thoughtful landscapes in a contemporary tonalist style of the rural Midwest. He's best known for his quiet scenes, elegant compositions and subtle color palettes. His award winning oil paintings have been featured in numerous solo & group exhibitions as well as plein air events and private collections.

Mark was born and raised in the small town of Eldridge, IA just north of Davenport. He studied at the American Academy of Art in Chicago, IL. After graduation he began a career in illustration and ended up as an art director/designer in the advertising industry. His love of the landscape comes from his love of the fields, farms and forests where he grew up, as well as the travels out West he took with his family to see the national parks and American landscapes.

Mark has a passion for learning and has taken workshops with master artists Ken Auster, Scott Christensen, Marc Hanson, and Kenn Backhaus. He is a prominent member in the local art community: teaching classes, workshops and hosting critiques as well as giving lectures. He currently resides in Porter, IN near the Indiana National Lakeshore with his family.

Statement

As a child, I was fortunate to travel much of the western United States and see the National Parks and grand vistas they provide. When traveling long distances, sometimes the only thing I could do was look out the car window at the passing landscapes. That taught me to admire each location for what it was and find beauty everywhere in nature. I brought this love of the landscape home and soon began to see the beauty in what was familiar to me — the farms, fields and forests of the Midwest.

As both a studio and en plein air (outdoor) painter, the wide variety of scenes are a never-ending source of inspiration, from the beaches and trails of the Indiana Dunes National Park to the farmlands, forests, lakes, streams and marshes. I'm especially captivated by the different seasons, light conditions and times of day. It's taking the scene and simplifying it to its basic shapes and design, then controlling the color to create the emotion that is always the challenge and fun and keeps me going. 

What I want the viewer of my art to see is the beauty found in the everyday places and moments. I cherish the subtle moods created by nature, such as the quiet contemplation of the night, or the familiarity of a family of trees at the end of a road, or the warmth of the dappled light on a newly planted field. It’s these ordinary, often overlooked scenes that speak to me, and I want the viewer to pause and appreciate them, too. And maybe even see them differently when they are driving by looking out their car window.

Motto. :  Create • Educate • Inspire

Create: It’s a verb and it's about the mental and physical act of painting, from inspiration to concept to execution, and all the process in between.