Christopher
Peet |
A resident of Ottawa, Ontario,
Christopher Peet has been painting professionally since the
early 1980s. It was then that a long held interest in
architectural drawing melded “almost by accident” with his
equally strong interest in art, and an artist eventually
emerged.
A graduate of Ontario College of Art, Peet says
his initial interest was textile weaving and design, an
interest he developed while attending Pearson College earlier.
“Painting was never something I considered as a career
possibility,” he says. But during his summer breaks, while working at the Mary March Museum in Grand Falls he developed an interest in
drawing, an interest that flourished and gradually altered the course
of his life. |
It was in the seventies that Peet found himself
attracted to the works of Goya, an artist whose work is said to be
“the first of the moderns” and whose style probably marked the
beginning of 19th Century realism. Peet says he had the
opportunity to visit the Prado, in Madrid in 1977 to see Goya’s
originalsand that he was awed by what he
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"My
Town", watercolor, 15.75" x 21.5"
© by Christopher
Peet
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observed. Interestingly,
like Peet, whose interest was initially in weaving, Goya spent
seventeen years of his life (1775-1792) painting designs for
the royal tapestry factory in Madrid.
Peet, who dabbled for a while in acrylics and
oil, eventually ended up choosing watercolor over other mediums, Peet
says, “My work is watercolor with ink because I prefer the quiet of
the watercolor. To me the color may attract you initially, but it is
the shades and sense of depth that allows you to stay inside the
piece and explore what is going on.”
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"Summer", watercolor,
9.5" x 13",
© by Christopher
Peet
|
Peet
says that color, itself, is actually secondary to him because
“unless the depth comes through and the balances between color and
shade are correct, the piece falls flat.” This preference is evident
in his works. While remarkably detailed, much of the color in his work
is muted in tone, but distinctive nonetheless. In this sense, it is
the architecture that is the primary focus. For example, his works Autumn
and Summer, two works that are black and white drawings, with a
dash of color added to the leaves in Autumn, and to a row of
colorful flowers in front of a summer cottage in
Summer. His
work, Row by
Row, on the other hand, a series of red brick, bow windowed row
houses on what appears to be |
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"Autumn", watercolor,
9.5" x 12.75",
© by Christopher
Peet
|
Beacon Street, Boston, blend color and
architectural design to achieve just the right mix Peet says he seeks,
a blend where neither the color nor architecture overpowers.
As for his preference for watercolor, he says, he
stays with it because of the challenge. “It is a very tricky medium
to control. I think that’s why I like it. Once you apply watercolor,
it’s very difficult to correct any errors, so I find myself trying to find ways to get the consistencies and
evenness of tone I like.”
If Peet painted broad landscapes the strictures
alluded to
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"Row
by Row", watercolor, 16" x 12",
© by Christopher
Peet
|
above might be less onerous, but he has focused on a
subject that has fascinated him since he was a boy ─ detailed
architectural renderings ─ a subject matter that allows for few
errors.
Rendering drawings of buildings, known and little
known, Peet uses his skill as an artist to create impressively
detailed works that make a statement about the uniqueness and role
buildings play in contributing to the lure of various locales ─ whether his Row
Houses off Beacon Street in downtown Boston, a church spire rising
behind a clapboard home in Provincetown, or a site not at all
unfamiliar to Cape travelers: an American flag hanging from a
storefront, titled appropriately enough, Brewster Store. |
“I
have been called an architectural preservationist,” he says,
describing his attention to detail and love of the old. “I have
done work, and still do, for historical societies and I am known for
my detail and accuracy. To me, an old building is as much a face and
personality as a person, which is why the only things other than old
buildings that I have painted are older people. I love the character
that time puts into people and structures.”
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"The Brewster Store",
watercolor,
18.5" x 12",
© by Christopher
Peet
|
Interestingly, Peet preserves the accuracy of what
he sees, but because his interest is in architecture, he does
remove, when suitable, attachments such as water meters,
electrical wires and gas meters from the sides of buildings. The
buildings themselves, he says, “reflect our greatest passions
and our deepest fears. They inherently are the symbols of who we
see ourselves to be.”
Peet’s original and limited edition work
can be found in galleries around Canada and in the United States
at Winstanley-Roark Fine Arts, Brewster, MA (http://www.masterfulart.com).
He counts among his private collections, the Queen’s Gallery,
Buckingham Palace, London and the Canadian Fund’s State Art
Collection. |
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