Following a successful career in illustration in New York, Walt Gonske moved to Taos in 1972 to pursue a career in fine art. At first he worked in watercolor, but the intense light and color of New Mexico inspired him to start painting in oils outdoors. Although he works on location, the paintings that result from his time in nature are not reproductions of what he has observed; rather, they are an interpretation of nature and a direct result of Gonske’s emotional response to his subject. As Gonske notes, “My goal in the work is not to show what I know, but what I feel. The more intensely I can express emotion through paint about the subject, the more likely the viewer will respond.” To circumvent the limitations that inclement weather poses on his plein air painting, Gonske has customized a Ford pickup truck into his “paintmobile.” With his studio-on-wheels at the ready, Gonske continuously gets closer and closer to achieving his goal of making a “visual record of this beautiful country before it’s gone.”

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