Paul Trentelman recently started painting Western scenes -- mountains, sagebrush and cattle on the range. But he hasn't really left his old range, artistically speaking.
"Mostly, I like doing people," Trentelman said. "Even when I'm doing Western-type things, I'm trying to focus on people."
An exhibit of Trentelman's art, including some of his new Western images, opens Friday, Aug. 3, in Weber County Library's Ogden Valley branch at 131 S. 7400 East, Huntsville. The display continues through Sept. 27.
"It's my first one-man show," he said.
When he retired, Trentelman experienced a change of art.
"I did advertising photography in Salt Lake City for about 25 years," he said. With a little more free time, he decided to return to his earlier love of drawing and painting -- he'd studied art in college for a year or two, before going into photography, and had worked as a draftsman at an architectural firm.
He's been painting now for four years, and his work has been exhibited in local galleries. In 2009, he received a merit award in the Springville Museum of Art's annual Spring Salon.
His experience as a photographer carries over into his painting.
"Certainly I developed an eye for composition through my photography, and that has always helped me a lot, and being aware of light and dark -- highlights and shadow areas," he said.
When he first started painting, he was working with acrylics.
"I was frustrated, because the acrylics dry too quickly," he said. "I like to have time to move the colors around on the canvas."
Oil paint was the answer, for him.
People person
The exhibit at the library shows the range of Trentelman's interests over the past four years.
Most of the paintings involve people in a variety of situations -- some of them at work or other everyday situations, others dealing with difficult things like the death of a loved one.
"Some paintings are of people drawn across two different countries," Trentelman said, speaking of his Hispanic images. "Their attempts to deal with immigration, and illegal immigration issues, and how even though they may be perfectly legitimate citizens of the country, they may be looked at as lesser-type people."
It was natural for Trentelman, who moved to Ogden five years ago, to start painting Western scenes -- he lives in the West.
"I ended up going to the Weber County Fair, and at the county fair they have the rodeo," he said. "I found myself hanging out watching the rodeo guys -- not necessarily watching the rodeo, but the cowboys hanging out, and outside the ring warming up ... or afterwards just sitting around watching other contestants. I found myself fascinated by that almost different culture."
He wound up painting those cowboys, at rodeos and on the range.
"I'll probably continue doing it for a while," he said. "It's fascinating for me at the moment."
PREVIEW
- WHAT: Art by Paul Trentelman of Ogden
- WHEN: 10 a.m.-9 p.m. Monday-Thursday, 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Friday-Saturday, Aug. 3-Sept. 27; also 1-5 p.m. Sundays, through August
- WHERE: Ogden Valley Library, 131 S. 7400 East, Huntsville
- ADMISSION: Free; 801-337-2660