C.R. Lewis is a self-taught artist who first felt the pull toward painting when he took a general art class in the eighth grade. Then his parents bought him an oil paint set in high school, and he began to paint nature. However, it wasn’t until 1990 that he began to paint in a serious way, this time using acrylics.
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Title: Napa Valley
Type: Acrylic
Size: 24" X 30"
Price: $3500
Acryllic on Board

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“Nature, in all its varied forms, dominates the richly textured paintings of C.R. Lewis. Strong shadows play against sun-struck fields of sensuous color to create a real presence of place and time. With a sharp eye for detail, Lewis loads his subjects with extraordinary life and intimacy. The sun dappled porch or bricked patio are inviting and reassuring in their personal familiarity.

Atmosphere and its fleeting changes are handled with the soft brushy quality of the Impressionists, giving his scenes sparkle and luminosity. Yet, there is also a strong adherence to the earlier tradition of English landscape painting, particularly the work of John Constable. Like Constable, Lewis balances the free-flowing shapes of nature against the more rigid forms of architecture to establish formal structure, weight and dimension.

Lewis’s skill is such that the viewer is transported into not only seeing nature, but giving the experience of being in nature. We can feel the gentle currents of air, gaze on the glossy sheen of reflected water and inhale the fragrant wildflowers.