Helena Fox Fine Art | 5/1-5/23 | Charleston, SC

All About the Light

New landscapes of the Lowcountry by Bill Farnsworth are highlighted in an upcoming show at Helena Fox Fine Art.

By Alyssa M. Tidwell

Bill Farnsworth is a master of atmospheric perspective and light, capturing the rural landscapes of the Eastern United States in expressive, painterly strokes. In a new body of work that will be shown at Helena Fox Fine Art this May, Farnsworth focuses on areas in the Gulf Stream from Apalachicola, Florida, to Charleston, South Carolina. In these paintings, fishing boats sit on waters dappled with light, trees create canopies of shade down urban walking paths, and storm clouds cast gray tones upon beaches filled with palm trees.

Shrimp Cocktail, oil, 40 x 30 in.

“I have documented the culture [of the region] through the ever-changing light,” Farnsworth says of this latest body of work. One of his recent pieces, Charleston Arrival, was based on the artist’s many trips to Chucktown over a causeway on Route 17. “The memory stayed with me until I finally stopped to document the scene. Back in the studio I added the egret for a strong focal point, but the early morning light is what the painting is all about.”

Longitude Lane, oil, 40 x 30 in.

Another painting that captures the gentle yet intense beauty of waxing/waning light is Shrimp Cocktail, in which a boat rests on the water at dusk. The glow of warm light in the boat’s cabin is intensified by the dimness of twilight. “Shrimp Cocktail was based on a sky that stayed in my memory that I draped around a shrimper at dusk. The warm light coming from the boat suggests day’s end and provides a focal point. That beautiful light between dusk and night was what I hoped to capture.” One of the most captivating elements of the piece are the gentle pink hues on the horizon line, gradually blending into a subtle blue sky that will eventually transition into the total darkness of night.

Good Day Sunshine, oil, 18 x 24 in.

His latest piece, Longitude Lane, depicts a narrow lane the artist has visited often. “The first rays of light created beautiful patterns on the old cobblestones and brick walls. I use the dappled light as a design tool to lead the eye and follow the topography of the landscape,” he says. “These Lowcountry paintings are all about the light.”

Farnsworth is a Master Signature Member of Oil Painters of America and the National Oil & Acrylic Painters’ Society, as well as a Signature Member of the American Society of Impressionists and the American Tonalist Society. He is also a Fellow of the American Society of Marine Artists and an Art Renewal Center Associate Living Master.