Cows of summer

Sometimes, you can’t throw a paintbrush in this cow town without hitting a landscape painter. It’s like they grow on trees. There’s even a common link between them—a lot of these painters use intense, bright colors in their paintings that don’t exist in nature. An earth tone may dominate a large surface, but often, the edges have dazzling strips of bright orange, or the shadows are defined by pure cobalt blue. This isn’t necessarily a negative trait; it’s a good trick to spice up what could be an otherwise drab composition. Artist Robert Chapla, showing this month at the Art Foundry Gallery, 1021 R Street, is no exception, save that he takes his colors to a different level. Layers upon layers of brilliant hues define his cows, hay bales and rolling hills, which help create the feeling of a California landscape in the summer.