Texas artist Denise La Rue Mahlke works in pastel and charcoal in creating her sensitive, atmospheric landscapes.
She uses the character of her mediums to advantage to create soft-edged, textural compositions that often have a tonalist feel, particularly when combined with her subtle color sense and often restrained value ranges.
My personal reaction to many of her pieces is frequently one of wistful contemplation, as if of a vaguely remembered point in time — the glimpse of beauty you sometimes have in the moments between the doing of things.
The images on her website are not as large as one might hope, but there are somewhat larger ones on Insight Gallery (look for text link for “full-size image”), Chamberlain Fine Art, and accompanying an interview with Mahlke conducted by John Pototschnik.
There is also an article on Mahlke from 2013 in Southwest Art.
