Lockwood "Woody" Dennis (American, 1937-2012). "Blue House" oil on canvas, 2000. Signed in lower right. A calming painting by Lockwood Dennis depicting a glaucous blue house rendered via geometric forms that wonderfully exemplify the graphic aesthetic inherited from his woodcut printmaking. Enveloped by a pale azure sky, the idyllic abode sits upon a grassy hill with perfectly manicured shrubberies adorning the sides - one of which forms a deep shadow beside a dark window that serves the center. Dennis often created his works around a center, stating, "In the paintings, I work around a center to which everything is related. My wife showed me this in a Monet lily pond on our first date (1960)." A black outlined sidewalk inhabits the foreground of the painting, placing the viewer on the pavement with the walkway that leads to the door serving as an invitation inside. Size of painting: 11" W x 14" H (27.9 cm x 35.6 cm); with frame: 11.8" W x 14.9" H (30 cm x 37.8 cm)

Lockwood "Woody" Dennis was driven to paint throughout his 45-year career and each canvas reveals new aspects about him as a person - his approaches to life, the environment, and art. During the early years, Woody was most influenced by the works of Post-Impressionist pioneers of early Modernism such as Cezanne and Matisse. As he evolved, Woody developed a graphic style that was informed by the style and imagery he created for his woodblock prints.

Dennis was quite eloquent and insightful when asked about his art. The following is an excerpt from the "On Impetus" section of his "Philosophical Musings on Painting": "The impetus to paint is always an experience - a specific place, weather, ordinary things remembered. A celebration of just being here, experiencing the world. The experience itself is somehow lost in the process, and, anyway, its not intended that it should be conveyed. The result is a picture animated by that experience."

Dennis continued, "A painting starts with an exuberance. It's good to be alive. The work is a wonderful place. The feeling seems to cover everything, but it relates especially to past experiences, beginning further back than I can remember. It becomes specific in associations with past experiences: Portland, Eastern Washington, Africa; but not with an exact description. The memory of a precise place and time - a moment of past reality is too terrible to bear, there is such a sense of loss, of things gone forever. So it is a present experience, based on the past. And perhaps the cartoon character adds the levity to remove it from the past, or 'animate' it in the present."

Lockwood Dennis paintings have been collected by the following museums and organizations: Microsoft Corporation, Redmond, Washington; Seattle Art Commission, Seattle, Washington; Hallie Ford Museum of Art, Salem, Oregon; Tacoma Art Museum, Tacoma, Washington; Swedish Medical Center Foundation, Seattle, Washington; Museum of History and Industry, Seattle, Washington; Jefferson Museum of Art and History, Port Townsend, Washington; Whitman College, Walla Walla, Washington; Museum of Northwest Art, La Conner, Washington; Clallam County Historical Society, Port Angeles, Washington; Bainbridge Island Art Museum, Winslow, Washington; US Library of Congress, Washington, DC; US State Department, Washington, DC.

Please note: This painting was exhibited at Davidson Galleries, Seattle, Washington as indicated by the exhibition label on the verso.

Provenance: Lockwood Dennis Art Estate, Boulder, Colorado, USA

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#185645

Signed in lower right. Verso is inscribed with inventory number and date and has exhibition label with title and artist from the Museum & Arts Center Sequim Dungeness Valley courtesy of Davidson Gallery in upper right. Fit with wooden frame with board backing and suspension wire on verso for display. In excellent overall condition.