Brad Aldridge

“I’ve made landscape pictures most of my life, and have always been drawn to small, private, untamed places like this. In these sorts of places I felt both trepidation and elation. My trepidation came because of the inherent danger of mortality that nature teaches all too well; the remains of some animal or the ruins of an old building. I was also keenly aware of the vulnerability of being alone. My elation came from observing the exquisite beauty and subtle intricacy of nature; the hope of a new season, and the liberating joy of being alone.

“Years later, as I emerged from my university art education, I was well practiced in the skill of looking for “deeper” meanings. I searched for metaphors in the landscape in an attempt to explain the powerful hold these sorts of places had over me.

“And as I walk down this country lane on one of the first sunny days of spring, metaphors swirl in the back of my mind. I suppose, however, if I had to define a central message that I derived from the world at a very early age, and would wish to pass on to the viewers of my paintings, that message would not be metaphorical, but literal. The message is this: In spite of a long hard winter, spring comes again.”

— Brad Aldridge