Acrylic paintings. Please click images for details.
Acrylics suit the Pacific Northwest. The medium is immediate, responsive, capable of rich deep color one moment and soft atmospheric haze the next — much like the region itself. Neal Cronic has made it his own.
Painting from Lynden, Washington, Neal works in acrylics with the same affection for the natural world that runs through everything he creates. The subjects here are vivid and alive — orca whales breaching at sunset on the Salish Sea, a mama black bear patiently teaching her cubs the ways of the forest, harbor seals lounging at Telegraph Cove with the unbothered energy of locals who’ve seen it all before.
Water is a constant presence. A great blue heron wades the quiet shallows of Lake Whatcom. Salmon move through the clear currents of the Campbell River. Sea turtles rest on a Washington beach in a scene that feels both unlikely and completely right. Neal has a gift for finding the moment just before something happens — the held breath, the poised stillness — and putting it on canvas with warmth and a touch of whimsy.
There’s humor here too, if you look for it. A painting of a husky squaring off against a cougar manages to be both fierce and funny, the kind of image that makes you look twice and then smile.
Every acrylic painting begins as an original work, created entirely by hand. Whether you’re drawn to the wildlife, the waterways, or simply the feeling of the Pacific Northwest on a good day, Neal’s acrylics bring that world into your home and keep it there.
