When I wrote about Eric Bowman, an artist originally from California and now based in Oregon, back in 2008, he was transitioning from a successful illustration career into placing more emphasis on his gallery art.
He is now focusing primarily on his gallery painting and his website showcases his landscapes and figurative work, as well as including a selection of figure studies.
Bowman has an open, painterly style that fits well with his landscape subjects, which are often in the tradition of the early 20th century California landscape painters, but also venture into townscapes and industrial subjects. His figurative subjects include dancers, chefs, and a series of portraits of blues musicians.
In both areas of subject matter, Bowman is very interested in the play of light and the effects of sharp value transitions. He works with a vibrant but controlled palette that gives his compositions a sense of clear harmony.
I particularly enjoy his inviting scenes of tree shadowed paths down to the Pacific shoreline, and his “moment in time” portrayals of dancers preparing for practice.
His figure studies from life model sessions have that nice loose rendering characteristic of confidently done oil sketches.
Bowman also has a blog, on which he posts images of his work, often linked to larger versions than you will find on the website.
