Robert Hamilton-Pennell

Bob grew up near Portland, Oregon. He studied art and architecture at Washington State University and education at the University of Oregon. He spent thirty years in the classroom, teaching students from kindergarten through the twelfth grade. For the last seven of those years he was a K-5 art teacher.

Bob and his wife Christine have made their home in Denver, Colorado where they have raised two sons, Robin and Paul.

Over the years, painting has been a central passion in Bob’s life. A love of the canyons and mountains of the American west provides inspiration for Bob’s work. For him, painting is a search for images that capture his love of the land.

Artist Statement

Growing up in Oregon, I was drawn to the rugged beauty of the coast and the vast expanse of the Oregon high desert. Bicycle adventures and escape expeditions from school left me with a reservoir of mental images that still inspire my work. Here in Colorado, I am never far from the mountains that whisper about the next painting, waiting just up the trail.

I begin work on paper, canvas, or wood with layers of texture and color, building up a series of glazes until a structure begins to reveal itself. I am not beginning with a wish to replicate a certain setting or mood. Rather, I let myself get into a spontaneous process of painting until an image begins to form that captures my emotional response to the land and satisfies my longing for balance. In letting go of any plans to dictate what happens on the paper or canvas as I paint, I have learned to view the resulting work as what Martin Buber defined as “beings”. My relationship with these works then becomes like one person meeting another.

I continue to be drawn to the work of artists, particularly abstract expressionists from the 1950’s, who dedicated their efforts to communicating simply through their pure, painterly marks on the canvas. Like them, I continue to look for ways to connect with my viewers. Without irony, and without falling back on references to our popular culture, I seek ways for my particular, personal touch to speak to those who look at my paintings.

"The only important thing in art is that which cannot be explained."
                   —Georges Braque (1882-1963)