Inna Ray - (Series) Winter Black Mesquite, Baker Creek
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Inna Ray grew up in the San Gabriel Valley during a time of suburban expansion and orange-grove bulldozing. She developed a deep appreciation for the natural landscape of Southern California, and experiences like hiking in the foothills of the Angeles Forest and camping in Joshua Tree and Owens Valley strongly influenced the subject matter in her work. Ray attended Immaculate Heart College in Hollywood, studying painting and photography, and graduated with a BA in Art.
After many years living in the San Francisco Bay Area and painting with a focus on the figure, she relocated to the Eastern Sierra in 2010. Falling in love with the landscape, she wandered around in Owens Valley and adjacent high desert lands, photographing her surroundings to use as sources for compositions she created in her travel-trailer studio. She passed away in October of 2020 after a career creating artwork with a deep connection to the earth.
WORKS
watercolor, gouache, and color pencil on cotton paper
12 x 16 in.
2011
Inna RayCrazy Old Cottonwood
watercolor, gouache, and color pencil on cotton paper
12 x 16 in.
2011
Cottonwood Grey Trio, Big Pine
watercolor, gouache, and color pencil on cotton paper
12 x 16 in.
2011
Mesquite Stump in Water
watercolor, gouache, and color pencil on cotton paper
12 x 16 in.
2011
Autumn Aspen In Tatters
watercolor, gouache, and color pencil on cotton paper
12 x 16 in.
2011
A Year Spent at Leisure in the Shelter of the Crazy Trees, Summer
watercolor, gouache, and color pencil on cotton paper
12 x 16 in.
2013
ANALYSIS OF WORKS
In these works, Inna Ray depicts the landscape of the Eastern Sierra in California. These drawings are reminiscent of the seasons and natural weather patterns. The viewer can see depictions of colors of winter, the exposed underlying structures of fields and thickets, cottonwood, red birch and willow trees, and streams and canals that line these nature-scapes.
Ray's use of strong graphic line-work over watercolor highlights the muted colors and atmosphere of a leafless and dormant environment full of plant life build to withstand the arid climate. At first glance, these paintings may appear bleak and colorless, but Ray's intricate attention to detail within the eclectic pencil lines adds a sense of renewed life into the plants she is depicting.
Ray's depiction of the Eastern Sierra landscape is far from naturalistic, with tree branches intertwining mystically, and non-descriptive backgrounds that further highlight the subject of the works. By choosing a more expressionistic approach to these paintings, Ray gives the viewer an inside look at her perception of the subject by bringing the truth of her experience into the work. This raises the question in the viewer: how does my perception of the environment around me change based on my unique life experience?
PERSONAL RESPONSE TO WORKS
Although she works with muted earth tones and natural colors, there is still an air of playfulness that surrounds each painting. The movement and personality of the pencil strokes brings a life to the otherwise barren landscape that she has chosen to bring a new beauty to. The framing of each subject is also quite intriguing. Not fully seeing each subject, there is a mystery and mystique that exudes from the works. These figures are almost dream-like, and are effective in providing Ray's unique perspective on the world around her.
Gabi Guevara