Q &A – Questions and Artists – Rodger Bechtold

The Peninsula Pulse has teamed up with the Door County Art League (DCAL) to reprint portions of interviews conducted by Randy Rasmussen with various artists. To sign up for DCAL’s monthly newsletter or for more information visit http://www.doorcountyartleague.org.

Randall Rasmussen (RR): Mr. Bechtold, I understand your art background was originally watercolor. Why the transition to oil?

“Down State Corn Crib” by Roger Bechtold.

Rodger Bechtold (RB): I was an illustrator for years and moved to watercolors as a natural progression from illustration to more expressive fine art. Painting in watercolor eventually became frustrating because of size limitations. After seeing a Monet exhibition I could see that oil had more heft, muscle and dynamics than what I felt watercolor could offer. The transition from watercolor to oil took about a decade and considerable effort.

RR: Several of your students have told me your philosophy of the focal point in a painting. Can you explain this to the readers?

RB: My intention is to engage a viewer to move freely about the painting with no area more important than another. A “focal point” or “center of interest” in painting imposes on and tries to manipulate the viewer. I suggest that a painting is far more interesting over a long period of time if you pay attention and let nature and the feeling of the place tell the story and don’t incorporate these devises. Paul Gauguin summed it up with “Art is abstraction. Abstract from nature while dreaming in front of it.”

RR: When you are painting in oil how important is it to have the brushstrokes showing?

RB: There are so few things in this world that are produced directly from the human hand that it’s important to see and experience the evidence of how the art was brought to life.

“A New Day” by Roger Bechtold.

RR: What teachers/painters had the greatest influence on your work?

RB: There have been many influences from many directions. But I have to say that above all others the greatest impact came in 1993 when I attended a master class with Wolf Kahn in Santa Fe. After which I was never quite the same and better for it. I came away frustrated, enlightened, and determined. This work with Wolf Kahn made me rethink everything I was doing in landscape painting.

RR: Is there such a thing as “formula” painting. When you sit and stand at the blank canvas what do you think about first?

RB: It is fine building on your last success but not to copy or try to duplicate it. Painting with a formula in mind is creative stagnation. The danger is that the challenge is gone along with the uncertainty and so is the energy, no emotional connection, a soulless painting. Thoughts and the direct experience painting on location motivate me to try to do something new with every effort. A white canvas is a huge challenge similar to an author beginning with page one or a composer with the first bar. Just have to begin and stay in the moment.

RR: Your known for your big brushes. Have your always advocated their use or has this been developed over the years?

RB: I always associated small brushes with small statements, and I want to make the largest statement possible; so better grab a big brush.

RR: What is the basis for your colors? In looking at your work I notice you, on some occasions, paint the same subject with different colors.

RB: Taking cues from nature my color selection has become intuitive. It’s almost on a subconscious level tied to my emotional response to the subject. True too for the studio where there is more room for experimentation and invention but somehow always in tune with the landscape. I want to layer the interest of the painting in a way that a viewer is seeing subject, color relationships, abstraction, brushwork and enjoying the piece on all levels. In many of my paintings the subject isn’t the subject at all.

Rodger Bechtold will be conducting two Plein Air Painting workshops on Washington Island, June 28 – July 2 and September 27 – October 1. For more information on the workshops, contact Kathy Sorenson at 920.847.2694. For more information on Bechtold’s work visit http://www.rodgerbechtold.com.

Since retiring from his career in chiropractic medicine, Randy Rasmussen has pursued his art with unmitigated passion. Randy conducts interviews for the Door County Art League, paints three times a week, almost entirely plein air, and is a charter member of the Peninsula Plein Air Painters. His work can be seen at http://www.doorcountyartsgallery.com.