When people stop to look at Curt Baldwin's paintings they get lost in the ambience. Sublime boats on calm water, the distorted lines of their reflections, a moment of bliss, it’s all about how they make you feel. “Your mind drifts off to exactly where it’s supposed to go, it’s this perfect meditative state,” Baldwin tells me.
Growing up in a lakeside community near the Irish Hills in Michigan, meant endless dog days spent on the water and the freedom which came with it, “an abandoned summer camp was our playground, all my best friends are from the lake,” Baldwin reminisces. His paintings of boats are dreamy with the occasional nod to sailing know-how, “Rule One” shows a girl with her arm draped over the side of the boat, there’s a tan line where a ring should be, “the lake steals anything valuable, so the first thing you do when you get to the lake is take off your jewelry,” Baldwin laughs, “that’s rule one!” Other favorites include “The Tubers”- a couple float in true Texas tubing style sporting a cowboy hat and a baseball cap, “The Lifeboat” is in a similar style, with the essential cooler floating in its own tube. Sometimes the paintings are named after the boats, which in turn, are named after the family who owns them, as that’s how they are known to the community, others are named after their engine sizes and memorable moments on the water.
Taking watercolor lessons from a lady on the beach at the age of 15, led to studying art at school, then on to working as a graphic artist and web designer, the culmination of all these has resulted in his dreamlike style which he describes as “a balance between minimalism meets abstraction”, in these oil on canvas works, there are no horizons or tree lines, its simply the craft and its illusionary echo in the water. Baldwin paints mostly wooden boats, and the occasional canoe, he works in oil on canvas on panels he stretches, and strip frames his work with custom stained wood which is complementary to the wood of the boats.
Restoring boats has always been a way of life for Baldwin, “The Brass Lass” is a Penn Yan boat he was restoring when he met the love of his life, Maria. “The Brass Lass” became an important foundation of their love story and marriage, carrying Maria to the shore in her wedding dress for their waterside wedding by the lake. The couple are now excited to welcome twins, I wonder if we will see twin boats in some of Baldwins future work?
Baldwin thrives on the interaction between the people he meets at the many festivals where he displays his work, he is a V.I.P exhibiting artist at The Woodlands Waterway Festival and is currently working on new paintings for September shows in St Louis and Kansas. His advice to upcoming artists is “Paint what you love.”
https://www.curtbaldwin.com