Golden Hour

Plein air painter Paul Kratter demonstrates how he captures the most powerful aspects of the landscape

- Paul Kratter

Sky Bound, oil on linen panel, 30 x 24 (76 x 60 cm) The first thing I saw was the diagonal shapes and the two vertical pine trees. I wanted the eye to zig-zag from the left foreground past the rocks and down the boulder-strewn area on the right, finally to the mountains, as if you were a hiker. The hazy atmosphere was a crucial aspect of the painting, and the low horizon makes the mountains feel like they rise high into the altitudes.

As a young child, I was always drawing. My two favorite subjects were sport and wildlife themes. Around first grade, I won first place in the San Francisco Chronicle’s contest with my drawing of an elephant and my prize was a pass to the San Francisco Zoo and an elephant key to the audio boxes in front of many of the enclosures. That award set me on my path that continues today.

In 1976 I was accepted to the prestigious Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California, where I majored in illustration. Those years were the most formative as I learned solid drawing skills, composition and concepts, which are now so important in my wildlife work. I had many great teachers including Dwight Harmon, Dan McCaw and Joseph Henninger, but most influential was the young, outgoing and prolific artist Craig Nelson, even though I was never officially registered in his class. Fellow students were equally inspiring including Larry (Lawrence) Carroll and Tia Wallace who became my wife in 1981. In 1980 I graduated with a BFA in Illustration. Immediately thereafter I started my freelancing career which lasted the next 22 years. Sports and wildlife continued to be my favorite themes.