The human eye can detect as many as one million colors. Our now omnipresent computer screens can emulate as many as 256, but a great artist needs as few as 10 or 12 colors to convey a sense of realism in a painting. Courtland Blade manages to capture the warmth and simplicity of downtown Indianapolis in his series of painted landscapes. With a limited palette and some subtle variation in light and shade, he transforms a canvas into a postcard.

Heading Downtown
Oil on Canvas
16" x 20"

For those familiar with the Indianapolis landscape, Courtland’s paintings are just as good as being there. His images hold an effortless naturalism while showing obvious hand-crafted skill through generous, saturated brush strokes. In his piece “Washington and Delaware” using just enough color, light, and shade, fields of gray become city streets, and carefully placed strokes of color emerge as city landmarks. For locals, we know exactly what we’re looking at. You’ve likely been in that same traffic, in that shade of daylight, but it has never looked so picturesque.

Washington & Delaware
Oil on Canvas
16" x 20"

Pieces like “The Stadium” have a similar effect. Painting from a pedestrian vantage point, the viewer is drawn into the scene by the familiarity of the view of Lucas Oil Stadium from a nearby gas station. Like seeing your city as the setting of a feature film, Limbo makes you feel as if your everyday experience has been immortalized.

Courtland’s command of color and perspective is apparent throughout his paintings. “Over the River” is a portrait of the Indianapolis skyline from across the White River, brought to life with little more than shades and tints of blue, gray, and green. The clouds loom heavily above the skyscrapers, while the river ripples and the trees and bushes seem to sway. I may be partial as a 20-year resident, but that's what makes these paintings so enjoyable– that I can find so much familiarity in every scene, and attach my own lived experience to each painting.

Limbo will be on display in City Gallery for the month of October.