Philip Koch, Deep Forest Pool, oil on panel, 30 x 40", 2011
A lot of my paintings are based on memory, sometimes of a place, other times of just the feeling that a place installed in me.
A painting is never just what is seems. It comes with baggage, but often of the very best sort. After a few years as an abstract painter when I first started out I became intrigued with the 19th century painters who loved the landscape. John Constable and George Inness were two of the biggest stars to me then and I would consciously look for places in nature that reminded me of the sorts of things they liked to paint. But my own direct experiences played their role too.
I was thinking about my love of painting ponds and tiny lakes that are surrounded by deep forests, something I have been drawn to for years. Years ago one afternoon I felt grabbed my nature's mysterious power. It wasn't a dramatic thunderstorm or anything like that, actually the opposite, something that was the very picture of quiet and self assured grace.
I was in grad school in southern Indiana went hiking in the woods with a friend. We probably weren't paying enough attention and went maybe a little too far. We got a little lost. Circling our way back we unexpectedly came across a hidden forest pond we had had no idea existed. Totally calm waters completely hidden from view on all sides, it seemed the perfect symbol of a mysterious serenity. We touched its waters gently with our fingers so as not to break its tranquil spell and just gazed at it for a few silenct minutes. Restored somehow and happier than before, we set off to find our way home.
Philip Koch, Inland, oil on canvas, 45 x 60" at George Billis Gallery, New York
Philip Koch, Mirror, oil on linen, 36 x 36", 2013
