“Red Mountains”
Acrylic on Canvas – May 2015

The title for this one comes with some influence from Richard. His favorite color is red and the red landscape is what drew him into this painting. The painting itself is a play on perspective – both depth/field and color. I had just gotten off the phone with my college best friend. We were talking paintings a bit as she showed me some of her art that she felt was missing something and I gave her some feedback on what I felt it was missing (for those of you wondering, my answer was movement – it needed an object with movement as otherwise it was a simple and stark, though lovely painting). The other thing I noticed was the rigidity of the color choices. While there were 6 or so different shades in the grass, all of those shades were green, for example. This is something I myself used to do with painting and my earliest pieces reflect that. And then two things changed my mind – a friend who dabbled in art suggested that I try mixing in complimentary colors that might exist in nature (grasses that are navy or rust colored) and Van Gogh. Some of you have already noted that they can see the Van Gogh inspiration.. and indeed I am greatly inspired by him.

Before I married Richard we took several trips to Europe. During those trips, I fell in love with Amsterdam – though to be honest, specifically the Van Gogh museum. I’ve scoured that museum – first for enjoyment, and later with notepad in hand. I specifically love his use of color play. I decided with this painting to do my own color play. Rather than use the colors that we denote as typical in nature, I would use the primary colors to create something scenic. As a whole I used 4 colors – 2 shades of blue, a deep red and a yellow to create this piece. And I love how it turned out!

Also… the title may or may not be influenced by the Red Mountains in Lord of the Rings and Game of Thrones.. not that I’m geeky or anything! 😉

This artwork is a one of a kind piece hand painted by Stephanie Ishler of Hallyu Back. All artwork is for sale unless otherwise specified. If you are interested in purchasing this original painting, contact us here!