Bare walls along with a multi-faceted career as an illustrator, art director, and teacher led to Keith Rust’s current passion for painting. Influenced by such plein-air painters as Frances Gearhart, the California native began painting the state’s landscapes. They were meant to be artwork for the Arts & Crafts-leaning house he had designed with his father. Friends noticed and were soon clamoring to commission their own paintings.
At first reluctant to sell original paintings that represented hundreds of hours of work, Rust hit on the idea of making high-quality giclée prints on canvas. The idea took off; in the past 12 years he has produced landscapes representing scenic wonders from Yosemite’s Half Dome to the soon-to-be-released “Grand Canyon,” all made available in the print format.
Rust begins each new painting by making a highly detailed sketch of a scene taken from visits to the site and many photographs. “I use photos taken at different times of day and in different lighting to create the ideal shot,” he says. The result is a painting that “feels like you are right at that spot … but the spot doesn’t really exist.”
After simplifying the drawing, Rust begins painting, which can take weeks as he adds up to four layers of color, making adjustments all along. After he’s satisfied with the placement of light and dark shading and color juxtapositions, he adds outlines to land, water, and vegetation, mimicking the look of block printing. (Skies are more painterly and realistic.) “The brush stroke is very important so that the painting has a handcrafted quality. I want the artwork to be experienced in different levels.”
Keith Rust uses the techniques he’s learned over the years in his other career as a high-school art teacher. Each semester, he begins with the basics, just as his mentor once did, starting with lines—Can lines express emotion? he asks his students—then blocking in shapes and shading to build the painting.
Keith Rust Illustration
Burbank, Calif.
(818) 567-4541
keithrustillustration.com
Mary Ellen Polson is a creative content editor and technical writer with over 20 years experience producing heavily illustrated know how and service journalism articles, full-length books, product copy, tips, Q&As, etc., on home renovation, design, and outdoor spaces.
