Shelley Hull // @shull3399
Shelley Hull grew up in the East, outside of Philadelphia, and traveled to New Mexico to visit family as a young adult. When visiting, Hull would paint and sketch, beginning a deep relationship with the southwestern landscape. Feeling removed from any emotional connection to other landscapes—painting them was more an academic affair—Hull moved to Denver, Colorado, in 1997 and now paints the southwestern landscape exclusively.
I am a contemporary western landscape artist. I find inspiration in the landscape of the Southwest and mountain West whose color, light and vastness move me in ways no other landscape does. I hike and experience places directly. I draw, do small watercolor sketches and take photos. I return to the studio to distill my experiences, my notes and memories of the landscape I have explored. I paint these landscapes with a power and rawness that reflects the the west’s particular stark beauty.
As I paint I engage in a dialog with the landscape as well as a dialog with other artists, current and historic, whose visions excite, challenge, goad, and inspire me whether it is David Hockney, Loraine Stephanson, Fairfield Porter, Maynard Dixon, Richard Diebenkorn or Lois Dodd. My paintings are contemporary landscapes of the American West that reflect the terroir, the sound, light and energy that is uniquely southwestern.
