ARTIST STATEMENT
“As life’s observer as ‘Fly Fisherman’ and as ‘Painter’, I am attempting to put these two passions together to behold the individual beauty of each fish, the incredible insect life cycle, and the pleasure of brief moments that we partake. I know I have a lifetime of work in front of me.”
Jill Field-Duerr’s paintings have progressed over the last decade from the naturalistic representation of Trout to more far-ranging subjects of landscapes, still life and portraiture. Her depictions of trout have also progressed, taking on a more heightened form of realism, sometimes even moving into the realm of the fanciful.
In spite of comparisons with master American painters such as of Whistler, Moran, and Homer and influences by the French masters, her work is not illustration but ‘Art’ in its highest capacity. Jill has said realism has never been the goal. The point of the paintings, she has said, is “to express the perception of the natural world as humankinds sublime experience.”
Whatever the subject matter, however realistic or fanciful the representation, Field-Duerr’s imagery is rich and genuine and languid in the classical pastiche; flawless in her technique which she says will “never be surmounted – only striving to achieve what I see”. And landscape and fishing, her subject matter and passion, remain at the heart of her work.