acrylic on canvas large scale abstract paintings
The artist has worked to keep her practice as normal as possible.It is not unusual for her to work in solitary, so being house-bound has not affected productivity. Fortunately her studio is in her home.Having all of her galleries closed has been a big challenge, so she expanded her creativity to put her Spring 2020 Exhibition in a magazine format to send to her contacts and collectors.This proved to generate sales.Ridgeway also stepped up her social media activity and has expanded her followers. Her website is getting exponentially more visitors.Fortunately her art supply store delivers and she has identified other sources in order to obtain materials and supplies.She looks forward to having her galleries open again. And she misses the personal interaction with collectors, colleagues,other artists, and friends.
Artist statement
Bette Ridgeway is best known for her large-scale, luminous poured canvases that push the boundaries of light, color and design. Her youth spent in the beautiful Adirondack Mountains of upstate New York and her extensive global travel filled have informed her colorful palette. For the past two decades, the high desert light of Santa Fe, NM has fueled Ridgeway’s art practice.Her three decades of mentorship by the acclaimed Abstract Expressionist Paul Jenkins set her on her lifetime journey of non-objective painting on large canvas. She explores the interrelation and change of color in various conditions and on a variety of surfaces. Her artistic foundations in line drawing, watercolor, graphic design, and oils gave way to acrylics, which she found to be more versatile for her layering technique. Ridgeway has spent the last 30 years developing her signature technique, called “layering light,” in which she uses many layers of thin, transparent acrylics on linen and canvas to produce a fluidity and viscosity similar to traditional watercolor. Delving further, Ridgeway expanded her work into 3D, joining paint and resin to aluminium and steel with sculptures of minimal towers.Ridgeway depicts movement in her work, sometimes kinetic and full of emotion, sometimes bold and masterful, sometimes languid and tentative. She sees herself as the channel, the work coming it comes through her but it is not hers. It goes out into the world – it has a life of its own.
Dwell Time 