Last October 2024, Brooke Musterman (of the Let’s Talk Art with Brooke podcast) and I had an interesting conversation, and now you can listen to it on her website here or on Apple podcasts here.
Among other things, we talked about whether art school is necessary or not, how to make work about challenging subjects, and my current show at the Sawtooth School in Winston-Salem, NC.
This month I’ve been painting a group of portraits of my family. I started with myself, then my husband, and finally our son. It’s been an interesting practice to notice how the experience of painting each one of us changes. For my portrait and my husband’s I worked from life: looking into a mirror for mine and asking my partner to pose for his. One of the challenges of working from life is needing to translate a three-dimensional thing into the two dimensions of a painting.
For my son’s portrait, rather than asking him to pose for hours, I opted to work from a photo instead. While it’s easier – in a way – to work from a photo because the camera does the work of flattening life’s three dimensions into two, it’s also easy to become obsessive about EVERY SINGLE DETAIL. This isn’t necessarily a good thing when painting. Part of painting is learning to discern which details to include and how much to leave out. The longer we stare at our subject, the more we discover. And if we include every little thing, the result will surprisingly look less realistic because of how our eyes and brains perceive what we see in real life. For example, if I paint an area in shadow with the same degree of detail and contrast as a part in the light, something will seem off when we look at the painting. For the spatial effect to work, we actually have to lessen the contrast and level of detail in the shadows.
Another part of what makes painting so interesting and complicated is the making of decisions of how to portray something or someone in a way that reveals an aspect of them and/or of the artist. It is an interesting challenge to make a realistic image that still looks like a painting rather than trying to make it look like a photo, which is more of an exercise in copying.
There’s also something magical about seeing an image in a painting, and then as you step closer to the work, gradually realizing that the image is just a collection of brush marks. (Have I mentioned that I often get into trouble in museums when I get a little too close to paintings?)
Here’s a collection of images showing the process of making the portrait of my son, from start to finish:
A small group of my paintings is on view at the Forsyth County Central Library in Winston-Salem until the end of June. I love that while they’re installed on the second floor, they are visible through a glass wall as soon as you walk in from the ground level. It’s nice to have multiple vantage points like that. The library is located at 660 W. 5th St.
The work is available for purchase here.
I think making self portraits is a good practice as an artist. It serves as a benchmark to gauge skill and changing concerns in technique and color. Rembrandt famously made 100 self portraits (that we know of), and it’s interesting to notice the changes in techniques and age in each one.
The last couple days I painted a self portrait, and I think it’s finished. It’s oil on wood and measures 12×12 inches.
In the next few weeks as classes wind down this semester, I’m reintroducing coaching for artists. This will be in a new format, and you’ll be able to easily book coaching calls here. If you know an artist who’s feeling creatively stuck or needs some art-related guidance, can you let them know?
A couple of weeks ago I gave a talk at The Art Gallery at Congdon Yards. We talked about my background, inspiration, processes, and techniques, and the group had some great questions. The gallery was kind enough to film the event and make a video, and you can watch the talk and Q&A below.
My artwork is on display there during my exhibition entitled A Place of Leaves and Earth from Jan. 25 – April 19.
Join me this Thursday at The Art Gallery at Congdon Yards for a one-hour discussion. We’ll be talking about inspiration, techniques, and processes for my exhibit, “A Place of Leaves and Earth,” currently on display at the gallery. The program is free and open to the public, and there will be coffee and doughnuts! Registration is required.
The gallery is located at 400 W English Dr, Suite 151, High Point, NC 27262.
My new exhibit “A Place of Leaves and Earth” opens at The Art Gallery at Congdon Yards in High Point, NC on Thursday January 25th. Drop in anytime between 5:00-7:30PM – the event is free and open to the public.
The show features paintings, video, sound, and sculpture, and runs until April 19th. The artwork is available for purchase from the gallery.
Here’s a little bit about the work in the show:
Making my work and moving my body outside have always been the ways that I process things. The work in this exhibit is deeply personal, generated by time I spend in nature alone and with family and friends. It is also born from the range of emotions I feel as I read the news and I make my way through the world as a human. My grief and anger and fear over our changing environment and socio-political upheaval are filtered through the quiet meditative space I find when I’m moving through nature and is sublimated into the artwork.
This grouping is comprised of paintings, video, sound, sculpture, and installation made in the last 5 years, a time that coincided with my son’s time in elementary school. Now that he is older and more independent, I have more uninterrupted time in the studio. I have space to meander, and to sit back and observe and to play. This body of work is a culmination of ideas that have percolated over the last two decades, and of giving myself the grace to learn new techniques and ways to engage the senses.
I hope you’ll experience this work through a poetic lens and allow yourself to be flooded with the sensations and memories this work evokes.
“Before we can save this world we are losing, we must first learn how to savor what remains. This is more than an ecological crisis or a political crisis — it is a spiritual one.” — Terry Tempest Williams
Here’s the press release in Yes! Weekly.
The address of the gallery is 400 W English Dr, Suite 151, High Point, NC 27262.
This month Forsyth Woman is featuring my work in their magazine! Writer Taryn Jerez and I discuss many aspects of being an artist including influences, my evolution as an artist and how I carve out studio time. You can read the piece here.
Thank you Taryn and Forsyth Woman for the feature in the February issue!
My exhibit of paintings “The Shape of the Sky” is on view at the Elberson Fine Arts Center at Salem College in Winston-Salem, NC until October 5th. So if you weren’t able to make it to the opening last Friday, there’s still time to see the show! Watch the video above for a tour of the exhibit.
In these paintings, I continue to explore the intersection of the outdoor experience and painting. The forces of nature are an ongoing source of inspiration in my life and work, and in these paintings, I aim to share that with you and to inspire you.
While the work is on display, you can still purchase the paintings online. They will be marked as sold in the exhibit and shipped the week of October 15th. Visit the Gallery Shop to bring these paintings into your life.
I donate 5% of the sales of my works to Yadkin Riverkeeper, a local non-profit that “seeks to respect, protect and improve the Yadkin Pee Dee River Basin through education, advocacy and action.”
My exhibit “The Shape of the Sky” is on view at the Velma Mason Davis Gallery, Elberson Fine Arts Center, at Salem College from August 27th – October 5th.
The opening reception is on Friday September 7th, from 6:00-8:00 PM. This event is free to the public.
My “Pilot Mountain” and “Forces of Nature” series will be on view. I am inspired by the poetry of nature: color and light in the landscape, seasons, and the passing of time. The series of paintings “Forces of Nature” is inspired by the strength of nature and the power of the outdoors. “Pilot Mountain” is a series of works inspired by a snowy winter hike in Pilot Mountain State Park in North Carolina.
While the work is on display, you can still purchase them online! They will be marked as sold in the exhibit and shipped the week of October 15th. Follow the Shop link buy these paintings.
I donate 5% of the sales of my works to Yadkin Riverkeeper, a local non-profit that “seeks to respect, protect and improve the Yadkin Pee Dee River Basin through education, advocacy and action.”