Call it artistic ADD – Chatham had his hand in so many things that by the age of forty he felt his painting was suffering. He pulled back on the writing and faced his family’s legacy head on. During this period he polished his signature style -the deliberate brush strokes of muted color so superbly blended together as to create a sublime landscape even Mother Nature could celebrate. Many have called his work subtle or subdued, but he bristles at the description. “I’ve always thought of myself as a colorist,” he explains. “I’ve heard the comment that my work is subdued and I think it’s foolish. If you go back in time you find there are no great paintings in history with color. Everything is a matter of gray. It’s the relationship of one color to another that matters.” You have to look no further than Chatham’s studio to know he takes that philosophy to heart. He starts with primary colors, mixes his own hybrid hues, and then meticulously applies the paint one horizontal line at a time. Each inch he brings in just a dab more color – orange or red -depending on placement. His touch with color is so delicate that the changes are almost imperceptible. “I like the 30 feet, three feet, three inch rule. A painting should be interesting at all three distances,” he says. No question, Chatham’s paintings are indeed compelling at all three, but it’s up close and far away that they pack the most punch. At three inches, you can see every deliberate brush stroke and its relationship to the next. At thirty feet you can appreciate the whole – invariably a soothing sublime and always emotional experience.
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