Captain Blue 1979

Ronnie Landfield made this painting called Captain Blue with some kind of paint, maybe acrylic, maybe oil. It's like a landscape, but one made of feelings. The surface is smooth, but you can see the movement in the brushstrokes, like he’s pushing the paint around, figuring it out as he goes. The orange and yellow feel warm, like a hot day, but then there’s this deep blue, anchoring everything. That blue isn’t just a color, it's a whole mood. Look how the blue is applied in vertical marks, it almost feels like a curtain, heavy with emotion. This kind of painting reminds me a bit of Milton Avery, who was great at making simple shapes carry a lot of weight. It shows how painting is just a series of choices, and each choice can change everything.