Gregory Blue Preserves the Beauty of Stroud Preserve in His Paintings

Photos by Jim Graham

Consumed by the natural elegance of Stroud Preserve, Chester County artist Gregory Blue comes away with his most sublime work.

Stroud Preserve was a convenient place for Gregory Blue’s life to turn a corner, as it lies only three miles from his home in West Chester. He’d be in his backyard or studio, track a moving weather front and arrive at the preserve in time to paint it. “But I didn’t know it was going to turn into this,” he says.

Blue spent almost seven years at Stroud Preserve, Natural Lands’ 571-acre mosaic of nature, painting plein air in sessions that lasted up to two hours. He’d create small abstracts to capture color and light—two essential components in his work—then expand on them later in the studio. All that work resulted in Landscapes of Stroud Preserve, Gregory Blue, and the Art of Preservation. The initial installation ran this past November at the Chester County Art Association. Blue’s first true exhibition in two decades, it featured 59 pieces. A more compact version just wrapped up at Studio Incamminati in Philadelphia.

Gregory Blue

So close to Wyeth Country, Blue couldn’t resist moves to Chester Springs in 1995 and finally West Chester, where he now paints behind his home in a garage studio. “There’s such a rich cultural and art heritage, and I’m happy to surround myself with it,” he says. “There’s certainly been grist for my mill here.”

Blue sees Stroud Preserve as his “partner on the path” to reconnecting with the natural world. For him, it’s a place to think and to feel at home—“a haven for my imagination.”

And he’s returning the favor. Natural Lands is receiving 10% of the proceeds from the sale of his Stroud-inspired work. The funds go to support its commitment to protecting open space. Other artists display art or donate time and resources to Natural Lands. This past December, Sienna Proetto completed a mural at the Binky Lee Preserve in Chester Springs. Through October, Natural Lands is hosting an outdoor installation of Ann Hopkins Wilson’s art at the 25-acre Saunders Woods Preserve in Gladwyne. It features native insects.

Blue’s project is unique in its ambitious scale and its intense focus on one of the Media-based organization’s 20 public preserves. “We know the preserves are inspirations for visitors in a variety of ways,” says Kelly Herrenkohl, Natural Lands’ vice president of communications and engagement. “Gregory’s exhibits are a great way for us to meet new people and expand our audience beyond folks who already know and love us. We’re less connected in the city, so to take Stroud into the Bok Building in Philadelphia … He finds new lovers of his work, and new people get to know us.”

Blue winces at the notion that Stroud saved him and his artistic career. But he does admit that it buoyed him after a series of personal traumas he won’t talk about. “It reinforced beliefs I’d held onto, and it helped me see things I’d forgotten,” he says. “Stroud made me aware again.”

Stroud reconnected Blue to the mountain trails and cornfields of central Pennsylvania, where he grew up. It also reminded him of his fascination with light. “As a little kid, we were called home when the street lights came on,” recalls Blue, who’s now 68. “At the end of the day, I’d watch how light changed on, say, field grass swaying in the wind. These were images imbedded in who I am—and those things became interesting again.”

Blue had always been able to conceive the vivid color and dynamic compositions of his memories. But during his emotional lows, painting became a struggle. “There are artists who turn to their work as solace, but I found that to be more difficult,” Blue says. “With the way I make art, I seemed less inclined. I had to get out of my own way, and Stroud helped with that.”

Blue’s “Summer Evening Front”

“As a little kid, we were called home when the street lights came on. At the end of the day, I’d watch how light changed on, say, field grass swaying in the wind. These were images imbedded in who I am—and those things became interesting again.”

So did workshops at Studio Incamminati’s School of Contemporary Realist Art. The first of those was a gift from his wife, Amanda. He returned his focus to drafting and drawing. His work grew more simplified, and his colors more expressive. In 2016, his daughter Hannah suggested he visit Stroud Preserve to continue clearing the air. “I was immediately smitten,” Blue says. “I fell in love.”

“The Result of Winter Rain”

Blue sees Stroud Preserve as his “partner on the path” to reconnecting with the natural world. For him, Stroud is a place to think and to feel at home—“a haven for my imagination.”

“The Greens of Summer”

In 1944, at age 20, Doris Blue enlisted in the U.S. Navy to help with the war effort. She was staunchly independent, and she impressed the same on her son. She knew Gregory could draw, and both of his parents supported that. For financial security, H.C. “Bus” Blue urged his son to major in commercial illustration in art school. When his father died in Blue’s first year at the now-defunct Art Institute of York, he switched to painting. “I’ve painted ever since,” he says.

Gregory Blue

In the late 1980s, Blue moved to New Hope, where he painted plein air along the towpath of the Delaware Canal and River. “I felt as though I was walking in the footsteps of the [Pennsylvania] Impressionists—the Walter E. Baums, the kindred spirits of a bygone era,” Blue recalls.

By 1991, he moved to Villanova to cut down on his first wife’s commute, start a family and work full time, largely in commercial graphic design with an environmental focus—what’s now referred to as experience design. So close to Wyeth Country, Blue couldn’t resist moves to Chester Springs in 1995 and finally West Chester, where he now paints behind his home in a garage studio. “There’s such a rich cultural and art heritage, and I’m happy to surround myself with it,” Blue says. “There’s certainly been grist for my mill here.”

Fully immersed in the local scene, Blue is among the 70 or so artists who open their studios each May for the celebrated Chester County Studio Tour. On one of those weekends six years ago, James Fairburn discovered Blue’s art. Today, he owns five of his paintings. The first was a small Brandywine Creek winter scene, flush with pinks and reds. Fairburn is attracted to Blue’s use of color and the way he captures a time of day. “There’s something very specific about it,” Fairburn says. “Half the painting can be in deep shadows, then there’s a blast of light passing through a horizontal plane so you know there are trees there. It’s endlessly fascinating that he can take a setting and work with it in an infinite number of ways.”

Gregory Blue with his works.

Even Blue doesn’t totally understand how he does it. The dual result of persistence and practice, it’s what he’s always striving for. “I’m pleased to be a vessel for it, but I’m damned to explain it,” he says.