Discovering Doolittle

Bev Doolittle — one of the most successful painters of the American West — has been trying to plant a garden. One problem is that she lives in the high California desert. Another is that she is not the only one who lives there: There are chuckwallas, rabbits, mice, lizards and a family of bobcats.

“They think it’s a salad bar!” Doolittle said during a phone interview, sighing with exasperation.

At first glance, however, you’d never know that her backyard — a dry, rocky expanse — is teeming with critters. “You see footprints, especially after a fresh snow,” she explained. “They’re here, but you can’t see them.” During the past 25 years, Doolittle has forged a lucrative career off hidden creatures, selling thousands of limited-edition reproductions of her “camouflage paintings” — natural scenes from which, at a distance, images of faces and animals emerge.

On Saturday, she will make her first local appearance at Kemper Galleries, which has sold her work since the 1980s. We spoke with her about her upcoming visit, gardening and her return to painting after a long hiatus.

Gazette: “Beyond Negotiations” is your first limited-edition release in seven years. What’s it like to be back in the saddle again, so to speak?

Doolittle: Crazy! . . . My son was going off to college, and I didn’t do much painting during that time. It’s funny how life takes over, and you find yourself being really busy and then saying, ‘What have I done?’ Well, I got the garden done; I got the house clean. I really missed painting, but I didn’t want to come back and do the same thing.

G: You usually work in watercolors. This is your first big painting in acrylic. How was that?

D: It was like going back to school. It was an intense six months. I thought it was going to take six weeks. . . . I wanted to loosen up. I really wanted to use a looser painting technique, and believe me, that’s harder. Of course, I couldn’t have picked a worse image to try to do this with. Every inch is horse or human anatomy. It didn’t allow me to go whoop-de-do with a brush.

G: Are you happy with it?

D: I’m never happy with anything I do. I don’t know if you should print that! No, that’s OK. You’re always striving.

G: As a war scene, this seems like a big departure from your past works, which have been mostly tranquil.

D: I really wanted these guys to be in your lap. You’re the focus of their attention. I really pushed the borders by having the Indians come out of the canvas. I agonized over the gestures and the facial expressions. . . . I spent 2½ days on one arm. I did that Indian over three times. He looked like Tony Curtis. There was an Indian in the background that looked like Mel Gibson. I thought, ‘Oh no, I’m going to get letters.’

G: Does the subject matter have anything to do with the war in Iraq?

D: No! It’s not political! No, no, no. That’s what I fear people will think. I’m not going to send one to President Bush.

G: You’ve painted American Indians a lot. What attracts you to this heritage?

D: Growing up, I was a Campfire Girl, where you make beaded things and earn badges, and you get to know about Native Americans in a more superficial way. I just always identified with that period of history: the Old West. And I’ve always loved horses. Of course, I grew up with Westerns on TV.

G: Do you own horses?

D: No, I live in a place where I finally have space for them, but I don’t have time. I’d be out cleaning the stalls instead of painting.

G: You live in northern California, right?

D: You know Joshua Tree National Park? That’s our backyard. The south side of our house at least is never going to change.

G: I saw a picture of your house. It looks like it’s built right into the rock.

D: It took 15½ years to build it. We moved into it about 4½ years ago. We actually have big boulders in our house. I have to vacuum the boulders.

G: Let’s talk about “Pintos,” your first so-called camouflage painting.

D: That was the one that launched my print career. I did that painting for the American Watercolor Society. I knew abstract art went over really well, but I didn’t like abstract art. So I was able to take an abstract situation in nature. I think that’s why people like it. And they like the fact that the horses found you before you found them. It’s sort of like the one I just did. You, the viewer, are very much involved.

G: Your first gallery was in Colorado. Do you have a special connection to the state?

D: It was Carson Gallery in downtown Denver. I love the state. You’ve got those gorgeous Rocky Mountains. I love our California High Sierras, but we don’t have animals that will eat you. We just don’t have the wildlife here.

G: Why do you think people like hidden things?

D: I think people see things in clouds and logs. I think everybody does! . . . Nature does this all the time. The military does this, too. I actually heard from somebody in the Air Force using my painting as an example of how you can misdirect the eye. It just opened doors to what people already know, already see.

details

Bev Doolittle Appearance and Art Exhibit

When: 2-5 p.m. Saturday

Where: Kemper Galleries, 5420 N. Academy Blvd.