Equestrian Network Magazine

Spotlight On The Artist: Cyndra Bradford

by M. Y. Mim

plein air or plein-air (plnar, pl-nr) adj.
Of or being a style of painting produced out of doors in natural light.

Under the Sycamores
by Cydnra Bradford.

This charming phrase derives from French and describes a style of painting outdoors. Cyndra Bradford, who owns with her husband the Galerie Plein Air in Carmel, California, explains:

"Plein Air painters work on location to quickly capture the fleeting light effects that occur in nature. Typically the initial painting is completed on location in two to three hours before the quality of the light changes. The artist may return to the same location at the same time of day to complete the work, or may make adjustments in the studio.

"Painting in this manner, rather than from photographs, gives the artwork a quality of being truthful to nature and conveys an atmosphere and feeling of a place that is not achievable by any other means. When viewing a Plein Air painting, you can almost imagine yourself
in the scene."

The plein air style became especially popular in the mid-1800s and accelerated in 1870 when paint in tubes was invented.

Another boon to the style occurred with the creation of the pochade box, a small portable box that contains a built-in palette, room for oil paints and brushes and a means of support for the artwork. These pochade boxes may either be held on the lap or mounted on a camera tripod to allow working standing up. The pochade box also goes by the names French box and Box Easel.

Cyndra Bradford's unique equine art results from combining a plein air approach and including horses. This results in very impressionistic work that is simultaneously figurative.

Greetings Cyndra

As is the custom with plein air painters, Cyndra uses a palette knife at least as often as a brush and generally paints a piece in one sitting. A signature of her work is that the colors work together.

You'll find another Cyndra signature in the deep, rich, textured layers of paint applied to each piece. While her style may be plein air, it is definitely not plain. Layer upon layer of thick color suggests the deep rich landscape of her home on the beautiful Big Sur coast of California. In fact, Cyndra credits the changing dramatic light of the coast as her inspiration to become an artist.

Cyndra captures that depth of light and color and its dramatic shiftings in her work by filling the canvas with a heavy texture of colorful oils. We see a lot of movement in a Bradford canvas, and the style works very well with equine subjects.

"Horses were always a passion for me," said Cyndra, "Working out door 'en plein air' gives my paintings the light and fresh brush strokes of a plein air painting. Horses don't stay still so I take photos of horses and paint them in my studio." Most of the horses shown in her work are composites of several photographs and not necessarily of one specific horse.

Paint

Growing up on Partington Ridge, Big Sur, she rode horses

throughout her childhood. Painting horses seemed natural to her and natural to the style she developed early in her life.

At the age of 18 she was selling her Serigraphs throughout the U.S., and by the age of 24 she was a member of the Carmel Art Association. In an effort to promote herself and the other Informalists, she opened the Galerie Plein Air in 1999.

Flight by Cydnra Bradford.

The term "Informalists" derived after the first group show organized by Cyndra Bradford in 1996 called "Informal Views."

Cyndra said, "Picture a serene, hidden valley along the Pacific Coast or the last rays of sun glowing on the rocks in a quiet cove - these are the informal views captured by the artists who have a deep love for and understanding of their subject."

Cyndra expresses her deep love for and understanding of horses and her beautiful coastal home through powerful, exquisite art.

To learn more about Cyndra Bradford's work and commission a piece, visit her website: http:// www.galeriepleinaire.com.

About the Author: M. Y. Mim is a free-lance journalist based in Santa Barbara, Ca. She may be reached at mymim3@cox.net, or through her agent R. Almqvist, 805-705-5349.

The Author wishes to thank Mr. R. Almqvist for his invaluable assistance in making this article possible.