Wes Mallory

Painter, Cynthiana, Kentucky

All during high school I sought refuge in literature, art, and outdoor pursuits like fishing and long-distance cycling.

The summer of my junior year, after working all day, I was driving across town to take a night class in oil painting. In college I was free to pursue my course of study, earning a BFA from U of Illinois and an MFA in Fine Arts from U of Cincinnati.

In 1976, having tired of city life, my wife and I bought 25 acres in Robertson Co and proceeded to build our own home. We spent our first summer living in the back of our pickup under a 'hop cap'. We were forced to work weekends in Cincinnati to raise money for our project. During that time I was also teaching myself to paint with watercolors. Watercolor was the media I had chosen to paint realistic pictures of the country, primarily tobacco barns, old houses, and cabins. After two successful shows in the Green Gallery in Augusta, KY, I tired of strictly representational painting.

My wife was teaching school in Nicholas County and it became clear to me, after our first two children arrived, that I would need to get a teaching certificate. I taught in Mason County public schools, attempting to paint at night until my retirement. My wife continued to teach but by that time had switched to Harrison County High School.

When she returned to school in the fall, I took one of my first motorcycle trips out Route 66. Since then I've taken numerous trips to the Southwest, an area I find very inspiring.

I have been concentrating on oil painting for almost two decades. In addition to being an artist, I am a frequent fisherman, hunter, and lonesome traveler drawn to lonely places. My journeys to Canadian lakes, to the high deserts of the southwest, or to the north woods have provided ample opportunities to reflect on the natural world and develop a deep appreciation for its majesty and mystery.

The majority of my paintings are improvisations - based on memories, dreams, or imaginings - rather than any strict attempts at realism. The sky has become of particular interest to me. Not a sky of a specific time and place, but a mysterious sky, a sky always in motion. I often am drawn to the light at the edges of the day, at dawn and dusk. My paintings often contain only a hint of landscape - a suggestion of the horizon, or sometimes no horizon at all. I find a spiritual quality in the sky, a loneliness, a peace, and often a profound sense of melancholy. I've always loved lonely places.