Dangerous Liason
perched on a wild butte looking past the tube into the gloam of a welcoming dusk. It is
Dolack's inimitable way of saying to us: Don't sweat the little stuff; don't become captive to your gadgets; always keep your thoughts on the big picture; behold it, cherish it,
defend it, and keep it from harm.
For him, humanity achieves redemption not only in safeguarding the best of what
remains for future generations but with how it nurtures nature's ability to heal from
scars of the past. This is why so many collectors want to put Monte Dolack's hopeful
artwork on their walls.
Newcomers to Dolack's work can journey through his portfolio at
www.montedolackfineart.com.
Muse:
Painter
Mary Beth Percival
N
ext to nature, what other muse has
the biggest impact on Monte Dolack? Without hesitating, he says
it is his wife, Mary Beth Percival, a studio
and plein air painter whose portrayals of
landscapes and botanicals have their own
avid following.
Percival, primarily a watercolorist, grew up
in the Big Hole and Boulder river valleys, the daughter of a U.S. Forest Service ranger. Together with Dolack, she has traveled on painting excursions and art history treks throughout North America and Europe.
"She has a great eye for color, design, and composition," Dolack says, telling the story of decades ago
when he first began painting the Rockies and mesa unfolding east of Great Falls. "The first works I did were
not very good. Mary Beth said that you need to go out and look at the light and shadow on the mountains,
experience the color, and absorb the feeling of the places you are trying to portray. She was right."
Percival herself makes plein air sketches lined with pencil notes about the subtle nuances of value
that inform her palette back in the studio. In May, several new works — wildflower scenes and forest
landscapes laden with hidden animal imagery — were unveiled at a solo show in Missoula.
w w w. d i s t i n c t lymo nt a na .co m
23
