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View more works by Peter Campbell
Peter Campbell's earliest art related memory is from when he was five years old in kindergarten. He remembers being given a large piece of paper and crayons and being told to "fill the page." He can clearly remember drawing a house, flowers and clouds - just filling up the whole sheet. The teacher held it up to the class saying, "this is what I asked you to do-fill up the page with drawings." He continues to fill his canvasses with landscapes of the American West.
Fleeting glimpses are the spark behind many of Peter Campbell’s landscape paintings. Out of the corner of his eye he’ll see something that catches his fancy and inspires him to paint. The challenge comes, he says, in trying to transfer that instant response to canvas. “You almost have to fight to hold on to that original idea,” he says. “It takes a lot of work to develop that glimpse into the work you’re trying to produce.”
Campbell started his artistic career as a photographer, studying at the Savannah College of Art and Design in Georgia. While he honed his photography skills, painting became his passion, and he started painting full-time after moving to Colorado several years ago. He says his photographic background comes in handy when he’s working on his landscapes, which are often abstracted views of nature. “Photographers are able to look at the world and imagine a frame around it, seeing the shapes interact with each other,” he says. “To abstract nature is to look at it and see simplified shapes and tones that work together.” The life of an artist suits Campbell well, and his goals are simple—to continue to pursue his passion for painting. “Once you start down the road of art and painting, it’s a drug,” he says. “I’m not happy if I’m not painting.”
He "finds inspiration in the mountains, desert and ever-changing light." He says, "I work mainly on location to get a direct connection with the landscape. I believe this gets the 'outside' into a painting, giving it elements that make it alive."
Peter Campbell has also been featured as an “Artist to Watch” in the May 2003 issue of Southwest Art Magazine.
Campbell has gained acclaim for his work that so well portrays the beauty of the Western world.
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