HOUSTON – On a sweltering morning in the thick of July, the artist Arthur Deatly stands an arm’s length from his easel, brush in hand, splattered apron around his waist. Making many quick maneuvers, with pauses to observe the scene before him, he deftly captures a bit of the city in bold strokes and vibrant tones.
Deatly said he considers himself an urban landscape painter, his subject matter largely buildings, bridges and bayous. He’s spent more than two decades painting scenes of the city and the surrounding area.
“To me, as opposed to doing portraits of people or pure landscape with no architecture whatsoever in it, I really do like that combination of man-made and nature because it creates a narrative, tells a story,” Deatly said.
Deatly’s thoughtful artworks often portray a restorative scene amid the roar of Houston’s skyscrapers and traffic-choked streets. His paintings translate the cityscape into elusive blocks, squiggles, and splotches, rendered in a serene swirl of color.
He paints en plein-air, like the Impressionists who, more than a century ago, often abandoned the confines of their studios for the French countryside.
“If it’s hot outside you sweat,” Deatly said. “If it’s cold outside you freeze. I’ve painted in every weather except for snow. It’s just a passion you have. It’s not comfortable. Anything you’re passionate about, comfort is secondary to getting the results you want.”
Deatly’s steadfast commitment to observational painting keeps him busy. He’s painted hundreds of pieces from sidewalk perches.
“All of it almost is like an intimate walk around the area I live in,” Deatly said. “I think someday when it’s all said and done and I’m gone you’re going to have a kind of visual journal, almost a walking journal that you could follow as to the trek I took in this area at this time and you’ll see those paintings as I saw them through my eyes when I painted them.”
He works on a piece over several days and spends numerous hours painting at a particular location.
“It’s not like I’m a camera and I’m just going out, taking a picture of something and coming back,” Deatly said. “I’m building this relationship with this place and I’m learning about it because I’m standing there watching it for sometimes 10 to 20 hours. You see the see the people that go by, you see the light change, you hear the birds. All that has an effect on your art. When you’re looking at one of my paintings, it’s not a painting of a moment, it’s a painting of several moments over several days, so it really is kind of a portrait of this place.”
Deatly said the city’s endless parade of images and colors inspires his work.
“I can remember, before I really got into plein-air painting the city, driving on our freeways, coming up into downtown, seeing the sun hit those glass buildings and creating all these amazing, beautiful truncated shapes, surfaces, lighting and it just mesmerized me,” Deatly said. “I couldn’t take my eyes off of it and I wanted to find the order in all that chaos. Getting it all on the canvas and being able to do that really is something that creates an ‘a-ha’ moment for not only me, but people who see my paintings as well.”
Deatly described the Houston-area’s allure this way: “It doesn’t hit you in the face. It’s not a mountain range. It’s not a babbling river with aspen trees. It’s not about that kind of beauty. It’s what I call -- and don’t take offense, Houston -- the ugly beauty. There’s a certain uncaring-ness about what we have here that makes it even cooler than something that was planned by an architect. It’s not that kind of beauty and that’s why I find it so interesting to look at. Because of our industries, the shipping industries, the oil industries, it has a certain flavor about it, and the fact that we’re in bayous with with mud, and bugs, and mosquitoes and swamps with snakes and alligators, that just makes it even cooler.”
Deatly will exhibit his work at the BAM! Art Market, held at at Sawyer Yards on Aug. 12. Several of his pieces are currently on display at ConCafe in west Houston.