Artist draws inspiration from ‘depths of stillness’
When looking at Mark Easton’s work, one word comes to mind: connected.
His paintings exude a connectedness with the world around him that resonates outward toward a viewer. Perhaps the feeling comes from the place he is when he is creating, a place we sometimes forget to visit; a place of simply being. “I don’t think of myself as an artist, I think of myself as a human being; creating is what we do,” he said, “My art is just an expression of being.”
His pieces are similar to cave drawings, simple yet universal images that tell stories of an almost spiritual nature, flowing shapes of animals, birds, and people searching, reaching out or moving toward an unknown destination which sometimes takes them off the painted surface. “A lot of my ‘subjects’ seem to be traveling off the canvas,” he said.
The difference between his pieces and cave drawings is that he uses bold colors which he applies to the canvas first and then waits. “I love colors, bright bold colors, and subtle shades. I love seeing what will show up on the canvas, what wants to be painted. I love the feel of the brush of the motion, the texture, and the colors to see what is there,” he said, admitting that many of his pieces are born of mistakes or an unintentional brush stroke that suddenly becomes an eye, the curve of an arm or the snout of an animal.
Easton grew up in Norway, Maine, surrounded by woods. “My parents were always pointing out the beauty in the world, always reminding me to notice it,” he said, “I’m grateful for that. My work is a combination of lush, deep woods and the expansiveness of the West.”
As an adult, Easton lived off the grid for 20 years on a farm in northern Maine. He ran ski shops for 10 years, worked on an organic farm, and did other things that interested him. About eight years ago, he picked up acrylic paints and taught himself to use them. His style has been called contemporary impressionism.
Painting interests Easton. In his apartment on Spokane’s North Side, he has an easel set up in a corner with plastic tacked to the walls behind it for the occasional splatter. His inspiration comes from not only lush woods and the wide-open spaces of the West but also the things that surround him, things that he seeks out on long walks and bike rides. “I paint to see what will come out of the depths of stillness, to see what is between breaths. To see what is underneath or at the core, what is truly present, and what is right here,” he said.
Easton said painting is like meditation and involves asking questions of himself. One question he asks is: What are we working for, really? To Easton, it’s moments of tenderness that are priceless and worthy of acquiring and remembering, like a dragonfly landing on his window screen. “What is the core of being, what is the expression of being, what is the potential of being human? I ask questions, lots of questions, but I don’t try to answer them. I paint because I can, because it is choice to listen and then paint,” he said.