Greg Navratil

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Early Interest

My interest in art began early. At age seven I had a drawing of a dog, "with eyes as big as sewer lids," published in the Denver Post. That same year I won my first award - a pack of Juicy Fruit gum - for a clay sculpture of a cowboy sitting on a fence and twirling his lasso overhead in a school competition. This interest continued throughout my school years. After serving in the US Army, I studied sculpture and painting in college, receiving a BFA degree. I continued what I did in college by making constructivist paintings. These were exhibited in many shows. I also screenprinted, art directed, signpainted, illustrated a few books, took two solo bicycle trips across the United States and Canada, and built a three story cabin by hand. My neighbors called this cabin a lodge; I called it a giant sculpture.

Form from Abstraction

For over a decade, I've been painting landscapes full-time. I set the composition for my images by starting from my own photographs and break the scene into small blocks. On the canvas, a larger corresponding grid is drawn. This sets the stage for paint application.

A somewhat contemporary impressionist, I work exclusively in fluid acrylics. My technique involves breaking down landforms into abstract bits of vibrant colors. Up close, each swatch of paint on canvas appears haphazard, but from a distance the viewer's eye mixes the colors to form recognizable shapes. This balance between representation and abstraction is the painting's strength.

Painting tiny strokes can be tedious, but it is a stable method of building an image. Part of the trick is painting without conscious awareness of a scene but only distributing paint to a flat surface.

These multi-award winning paintings capture the look and feel of the earth's form and nature. My paintings appear in private and corporate collections in the United States, Canada, and Europe.

Oregon

I recently purchased a historical schoolhouse near Seaside, Oregon. With renovation, this will make a wonderful studio/home with its high ceilings and abundant square footage. It will be my studio of the Northwest. With its nearly three acres of woods and gardens, it will also become my Giverny.

New! View our collection of Greg Navratil's artwork online!
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Sacajawea Gallery - 301 Main st. Stevensville, MT 59870 - (406) 777-3806