(American, b. 1965)The spiritual resonance one senses from nature seems universal to most cultures and is a timeless belief. Aldridge wants the viewer to feel and perhaps re-experience the moments in life when time and place fall away and the spiritual emanations of nature become more palpable. His focus in painting is not so much articulating a specific place, rather, a specific feeling that emanates from that place. His paintings conjure 19th century Romanticism and Tonalism while employing somewhat loose 20th century brushstrokes. Born in 1965, Aldridge began his artist’s training at an early age. He remembers wanting to be a professional artist as early as four years of age. Years of drawing prepared him to attend college level art classes at the University of Arkansas while still in junior high school. He began exhibiting nationally while attending the Bachelor of Fine Arts program at Brigham Young University. He began his professional career in earnest while attending the University of Arkansas’s Master of Fine Arts program. After his formal education, Aldridge moved to Utah where he now lives in a small country town with his wife and five children. When he is not painting, he enjoys spending time with his family, gardening, and renovating the 1884 boarding house he calls home.His paintings are oil on panel with a subdued palette contrasted with a luminous sky. The frames are mostly designed and hand-crafted by the artist with a specific painting or series of paintings in mind. Most are 18 karat or 22 karat gold leaf. One can visit his studio and often find a frame and painting on the easel, both in progress. He lives and works in Moroni, Utah.