Mastering Fundamentals Helped Molly Hyde Find Artistic Freedom

When I visited Molly Hyde in her studio she had just finished a twenty minute exercise to get ready for a painting session she was planning with a friend the next day. She didn't know where she was going, or what the conditions would be like, so she made a chart of the colors that she might encounter. She said, "If you're painting in New Mexico, you have to pain cliff walls, rocks and skies. The skies are so beautiful."

She especially loves the sky over El Dorado, where she lives. Streams of air come over mountains on all sides. The air eddies, and creates storms.

Her goal is to master the fundamental technique, and to have it so ingrained that it comes automatically. That way, when she's on location, she can just paint and not have to struggle.

She learned the importance of classical artistic technique when she lived in Putney Vermont. In 2001 she became acquainted with a group of artists who asked her friend if they could use her big barn as a place to paint. The painters turned out to be led by Richard Schmid, and the group of 11 would later be known as the Putney Painters.

She got her classical art training as a member of the Putney Painters. She painted with them for 4 1/2 years and learned things like color temperature and value.

When she and her husband retired and moved to Santa Fe, she joined a plein air class with Anita Louise West, so she could continue developing the skills that she was learning in Vermont.

Another way she is improving her landscape skills is by studying with Kevin Gorges, concentrating on still life. Painting onions and peppers helps her to paint mountains because it makes her more conscious of value shifts. She always looks at one shape in relation to the shapes around it. She's always comparing one patch of shape to another. With still life she can take her time and concentrate on this.

When you paint outdoors you have to do the same thing, only very quickly. You have three hours to work, maximum. With her still life pieces she has stretched her range of values. She has deeper deeps and lighter lights. She is able to simplify the forms that she sees in nature. She said, "There's so much out there. You have to focus on a few shapes."

After 4 1/2 years, it can still be a struggle to get the New Mexico landscape. "Coming from new England to New Mexico was a challenge to my palette. I was using New England greens, which have a lot of blue in them, instead of New Mexico greens, which have a lot of orange. But a challenge is not necessarily a bad thing. It can be really fun!"