Ella is an artist from the Hudson Valley in New York State. Her paintings depict figures within vibrant, and energetic outdoor landscapes. The work’s surface is active with mark and color, accentuating the vitality of the woods and the lake. She chooses oil paint because it allows for complexity and fluidity of color and form, the layers of paint mimicking the layers of foliage and light, of water and reflection, of soil and undergrowth. The paintings’ figures are related in texture and mark to their organic surroundings, unifying them with their environment. And those figures are often not solitary. While the outdoors can present an opportunity for inward contemplation, Ella’s interest is on shared experiences in the wild. Her paintings are a celebration of the time we spend together outside. They are an attempt at capturing the memories left from idyllic escapes.
Ella has canoed and hiked for many years in the Adirondacks, Vermont’s Green Mountains and the lakes and rivers of northern Quebec. Her paintings reference photographs gathered during those paddles and walks. Her affection for the people and places chosen for her compositions are essential to her work, and she hopes are reflected in their expressive rendering. Ella has exhibited her work in Burlington, Vermont, and Saratoga Springs, Tivoli and Paul Smith, New York.