Chris Pennington

Karen Wray Gallery Welcomes Chris Pennington

By Mandy Marksteiner

Looking at a Chris Pennington painting is a lot like going on an incredible hike and taking in the most spectacular view.

That could be because she often gets her inspiration while on hikes or horseback rides near her home in the open and secluded hills between Moriarty and Edgewood. She said, “Horse rides are a big part of my creative process. I always see things that I have to paint.”

Creativity is a driving force in her life

Pennington grew up in Los Alamos, and ever since she was a child, she always felt like she needed art. She didn’t have a choice but creating was something she just had to do.

She put it this way. “Creativity is a driving force. I get a creative idea and keep moving forward until I make it happen. I get inspired and have to act on it.”

Growing up she had parents who were very supportive of her art and she was able take a wide variety of art classes. She went on to get her BFA in graphic design and fine art from Eastern New Mexico University.

After she graduated, she initially focused on pursuing a career in graphic design. The competition was fierce and the job didn’t immediately materialize so she started her own custom t-shirt company, xltshirt.com. Soon after she got a job that let her make use of her college education, doing graphic design. When that job ended abruptly, she knew she needed to focus on painting. She said, “I delved into painting, and continued to work from home with the t-shirt business.”

She added, “It was freeing to be able to tell the whole story with images and color."

Inspired by French Impressionists

When Pennington was in college, she did a student exchange in England for a semester. Before she went to school, she and a friend took a month to travel throughout Europe to visit some of the great museums of the world, including the Louvre in Paris.

There she saw the display of French Impressionists.

“I had seen photos of these paintings in books but had never seen them in real life,” she said. She was so inspired by that gallery and she knew right away that when she painted, she wanted to work toward that. “The colors were so intense. The images were clean and there was an economy of stroke. That was what I wanted to work toward. I still go back to those paintings.”

It’s all about color

As much as she loves impressionism, her work doesn’t strictly follow that style.

“I may not qualify as an impressionist,” she said. “But maybe a ‘colorist’.”

She started painting using watercolor, but even watercolorists would agree that it is not a forgiving medium. She said, “If you make a mistake it’s start-over-time.”

She uses acrylics because she loves the intense bright colors. She said, “I’m attracted to color combinations I haven’t seen before, lit in a certain way. It inspired me to go home and paint.”

There is a wide variety in her work and she rarely paints the same subject. There are Aspen forests, desert landscapes, flowers, waterfalls, and horses that are so lifelike you think they’re going to run right off the canvas.

“Each painting is a lesson,” she said. “I’m always evolving.”