I am a traditionally trained painter living in Northern California's Bay Area, and my main artistic objective is to develop the way in which I naturally paint. On the technical side, I work primarily in two media, oil on linen and gouache on paper. My current subject matter features landscape painting and still lifes, the latter focusing on fabrics. The California landscape as subject matter stems from my interest in its minimalist elements including the sparse, elegantly colored rolling hills with subtle hues of color under expansive skies. My influences derive from the landscapes by painters of the Barbizon school, the Hudson River school, and by the early 20th century California landscape painters.

My interest in fabric still lifes encompasses the exploration of color and light, as well as of contour and shadow. Thus, I typically illuminate my still lifes with several spatially distributed light sources, such that the subtle overlapping of light and shadow is evident to me in conjunction with the form. As inspiration for my still lifes, I look back to painters such as Bronzino, Goya, and Ingres in their handling of fabrics.

Peter Surroca