The Vast Earth

By: LEAH OLLMAN
SPECIAL TO THE TIMES

Theobald's paintings are accessible as landscapes, each canvas bearing silhouettes of trees, the suggestion of a lake or riverscape. But geography seems less and less important to her as the years go by. These paintings are views beyond the land. They expand upon the given through intensification of color and subtlety of form, so that one can easily lose oneself within them--not so much in the imagined physical space of the landscape as in the rarefied zone of contemplation they evoke.

Trees and bodies of water appear here as shaped densities of color, often the same color as the sky but more opaque. Water, air and land feel continuous as a result, unified and whole. Because Theobald generally sets her horizons low, sky predominates in most of the paintings. They become portraits of particular conditions of light, visually related to Color-Field paintings, as well as to the light and space work prevalent in Southern California in the late 1960s and early '70s, when Theobald was getting her degrees at San Diego State University.

Theobald, who has lived in Seattle for the last decade, now paints more atmospherically than ever, using a palette stretched to gorgeous extremity. Her skies run salmon, mauve, teal, eggplant, royal blue, sea green and blue-violet, most canvases keyed to a single tone, with many paintings paired to suggest the same view in both night and day.

As still as these scenes are, they are also stirring, so exquisite are their hues. They act as reprieves to the eye, serene summons to the spirit.

Cirrus Gallery, 542 S. Alameda St., L.A., (213) 680-3473, through Oct. 28. Closed Sundays and Mondays. * * *

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