Why do I paint?
April 17, 2009
Thanks to everyone who joined me in the studio for the last Second Fridays Studio Walk! You were all so involved, interested, funny and supportive. I love to demonstrate this way and hope that everyone enjoyed the evening as much as John and I did.
On the Easel Sawmill 18 x 24 Oil
This is the initial compositional layout for the painting I demonstrated at the Studio Walk. I did this in the morning so that it would be dry that evening.
On the Easel Sawmill B 18 x 24 Oil
The most wonderful comment I got at the end of my presentation was that my painting looked so much better than the photo! THANK YOU! Again, I demonstrated how I would be changing the photo. For example, I changed the angles in the foreground, removed a road and fence, placed the foreground trees on different planes, raised the sun just above the mountains to increase the warm light, eventually moved one tree (you can see where it was originally) and placed my foreground shadows correctly for the new placement of the sun. It was all good fun and interesting for me to learn that most guests had no idea an artist could, would or should do those things!
Why do I paint?
Since my last blog, I’ve been thinking – Maybe I need to go back before “Why do I paint what I paint?” to just “Why do I paint?” Here I may find a stumbling block, but to get started, let me take you back to my childhood.
As it is with most kids, I loved to use my crayons, finger paint, draw my family, pets and scenes from vacations. Lazy summer days were spent with paper, pencils, paint, crayons etc. keeping cool in the shade and creating endless ‘masterpieces’ for my parents and/or grandparents to ooh and ah over. As the years went by, I continued – moved into tempera paint, colored pencils and eventually oils. Not many of my friends made it to oil paints; it seems my desire to draw and paint was deeper than theirs. I knew pretty soon that I had some talent and of course, being a child that needed some ‘stroking’, I continued to paint in hopes of compliments from teachers, parents and even friends.
Cross Country 9 x 12 oil
We are about to head to England and so I casually looked through my photos from other visits over many years and was suddenly compelled to paint some of these delightful scenes. This is in the Midlands – lovely lush rolling hills of farmland and small stone villages. We walked in early morning on a Foot Path across cut fields into the local village then looped around the countryside back to our friend’s home.
Why do I paint? Then, in high school and college where abstract expressionism was popular and expected, my desire to produce works of art instantly disappeared and my interests focused elsewhere. Notice I didn’t say my love for painting and drawing disappeared, just my interest in producing anything for anyone else to see did. Realism seemed to be a thing of the past and my desire to express myself in a traditional way became a banished form of expression.
Now you might ask what all this has to do with “why I paint”. What I can tell you is this: I never stopped wanting to paint and draw, never stopped wanting to express myself through art, never completely stopped painting and drawing either. It just wasn’t the way I introduced myself nor the way I made a living.
High Mountain Tarn 9 x 12 Oil
Traveling through Colorado and Montana one crosses the Continental Divide many times. Frequently it is stormy with snow or heavy rain. Sometimes, like this day in late spring, it was sunny with suggestions of a fine summer permeating the cool mountain air.
Why do I paint? In life, as in all things, everything changes with time. To my surprise, I eventually began to find some remarkable traditional western landscape painters showing in museums and galleries. After all those years of ‘keeping the lid on’ my artistic efforts, I knew the time had finally come for me to return to painting. I simply had to paint again to express myself and share all my adventures with everyone.
Today, as a full time artist, I am pretty much a type A, left brained person; an organized, scheduled, hard working and physically active woman – who needs to engage her right brain to bring herself to center. I read novels, write, cook, listen to music and relax in my right brain. I have talent which needs constant attention to keep it fine tuned and a huge desire to get better at my craft – to get as good as I can in the amount of time I have left in my life to paint. Luckily for me, I found my niche in western representational art and I have been lucky enough to find collectors too. And so I paint to keep myself centered, to keep growing artistically and intellectually and to give you pleasure.
Thanks for taking time to read this lengthy explanation. Please, add a comment or ask a question.
Snake River Autumn 16 x 20 Oil
I just keep on working on this painting, changing things here and there, letting it ‘rest’, checking it every couple of days, looking for answers and aha moments. I’m just not ready to say, “Done.”
And just for fun, I include some more paintings just completed:
Still Surface 6 x 12 Oil
Fog in the Hills 9 x 12 Oil
High Water Brookie 10 x 10 Oil
We will be in England for a while so those of you following my blog will have to wait until May for the next chapter! Don’t forget to sign up for the Newsletter by clicking here!
Thanks for your support and interest. Until we return,
Cheerio!
Ginger
