long history with watercolor paintings and it is much
more common.”
Tryggmo’s paintings are quite minimalist works
that mostly focus on the animal and not so much
on its habitat. He leaves large pieces of the paper
unpainted as focus is drawn to the animal, its
pose and the delicate paint that swirls around it.
“Sometimes the most difficult part is knowing when
to stop. I’ll get comments on social media telling me
to stop now. Or my wife will come in and tell me
she thinks it’s finished,” he says. “It’s easy to kill a
painting by overworking it.”
The new show will feature a magnificent elk
image, Earth Tones, as well as the moose piece Out
of Nowhere in which a moose’s head is proudly
presented in a light wash of paint that gently colors
the paper. The works primarily feature animals in
the American West, but also some wildlife that exist
in both the United States and Sweden, such as sea
birds and ravens.
“I first met Gunnar at the Leigh Yawkey Woodson
Museum, where we were both exhibiting in the
international Birds in Art juried exhibition. One
afternoon, the artsts were sharing their field journals,
and I was so impressed with Gunnar’s. They had the
scholarly approach of a naturalist, but the astute
renderings of a very practiced artist,” says Turner
Fine Art owner, and fellow wildlife painter, Kathryn
Mapes Turner. “Traditional watercolor is a very
challenging medium because of its unpredictable
nature and transparency—it is not possible to undo
a misstep. This is why Gunnar’s commitment to
painting in this medium is so impressive. The result
of his commitment are pieces that are both bold and
sensitive, painstakingly rendered with a distinctive
lightness of touch and spontaneity.”
The Wild Wonder continues through March 29 in
Jackson Hole.
http://www.westernartcollector.comFor a direct link to the
exhibiting gallery go toGunnar Tryggmo in his studio in Sweden.
Evening Light, watercolor on paper, 22 x 30”Earth Tones, watercolor on paper, 15 x 11"