Artist Red Rohall Exhibit at Peoria Main Library

"I travel the back roads of America looking for roadside attractions. Diners, soda fountains, and vintage buildings of all genres...these are the subjects of my oil paintings.

"I paint in thin glaze layers. A typical painting will take many months to

complete. The paintings are ‘built' from billions of layers of oil paint. The finished paintings glow with a soft and special inner light. All my paintings are of real places with real stories to tell."

Those are the words of artist Red Rohall, whose exhibit opens Dec. 16 at Peoria Public Library, 8401 W. Monroe St.

Rohall lived in Peoria three or four years before moving east of I-17 to the Arcadia district so his wife, Laurie Eldridge, could be closer to her work.

Originally from Pennysylvania, Rohall went to art school in Rochester, N.Y.

"As a direct result of being in Rochester for five winters, I ended up in Arizona," he said.

He lived in Tucson three or four years in the early 1980s before he was given an opportunity in Indianapolis. He stayed for 20 years until one winter, when the temperature dropped to 28 below zero.

"My wife and I looked at each other and said, ‘Time to head back to Arizona,'" Rohall said.

That was about nine years ago, and during that time, he has managed to paint more and more the subjects that line the roadway that is his passion: Route 66.

While he was living in Indiana, he was painting subjects that had a Southwest connection, and "people were rolling their eyeballs," he said. "But, I love the subject matter. It works for me, like hand in glove."

Over the years, Rohall has traveled the country for workshops and open exhibits. He doesn't fly; he drives everywhere.

"Taking back roads let's me see things," he said. "The best way: See things, do paintings. For me, it's a dream come true. It lets me see the highways. "For Route 66, I see history, I love it."

He was in high school before he realized he loved to paint.

"I did not hang out in chemistry or math class," he said. "By process of elimination, I gravitated to art class."

He went to college to study photography as an art form, and that became his major. He found out through photography that he liked to paint more than take pictures.

"So, today, I am glad I got a degree in photography; it helps make me a better painter," he said.

Size of paintings matters with his technique. Most are very small, 16 by 20, and some much smaller than that. In the past year, his paintings are 8 by 10 inches.

Rohall said that is a direct result of the way he paints, dozens and dozens of layers of paint on top of each other. The method takes a long time and is labor intensive. An 8 by 10 could take three or four weeks. He only gets about 10 or 12 paintings finished in a year.

"Just the way I brush, a soft sable brush, it makes just real fine delicate marks on the painting," he said. "But, after you build five, or eight, or 10 layers and have all these little marks, the surface almost starts to look like a tapestry. When you get up close, you see this mesh of marks, strokes, you see the design itself. So, you can approach it at different levels."

Why oils as opposed to acrylics?

"With oil, you can really thin them down a lot and have them keep their brilliance and intensity of the pigments in the paint," he said. "Whereas, in an acrylic paint, less pigment, less saturated, less brilliant. What oil paints do is let me paint the way I do."

Why realistic?

"I have done various styles and techniques over the years. I've been painting 33 years, including abstract work," he said. "I felt good while I was painting it. But, I found after a certain point in time, I was repeating myself.

"I said to myself, ‘I need to do something harder, challenging.' I thought it would make me grow as an artist a little bit. Partly, it was like an artist decision, I'd rather do this than that."

Also, when he is in a car, he sees stuff, takes pictures. He has stacks of photos.

He asks himself, "Can I do something with these, artistically speaking?

"One thing led to another, I started painting realistic oil paintings. It was almost like a progression. It did prove to be a challenge."

When he opens an exhibit, he said his favorite thing is to talk with people about what he does.

Rohall said, "I really enjoy talking to people about what I do. So they understand what I do."

View Red Rohall paintings at www.redrohallartist.com.