Artist Statement
I have been told about my oil paintings:
“Reminds me of Georgia O’Keeffe’s paintings, bold but subtle.” “They are so very luminous.” “You have such a unique color sense.”
I was thrilled when my art was favorably compared with Georgia O’Keefe’s.
I entered one painting (an oil painting) in a show, The People’s Choice Art Awards in Des Moines, Iowa, and won an award: Third Place - Amateur Category - June 21, 1993 - My younger brother was so impressed with my award winning painting that he convinced me to trade it for his car (gently used). I have been painting professionally since that contest.
I have Corel IX and I have now upgraded to Corel X - they allow me the freedom to experiment with new methods, new subjects and no messy cleanup (cleaning brushes and palettes is my LEAST favorite part of painting). I love oils because of the buttery gradient effects I can achieve with them. I love watercolor because it is quick drying and patterns that emerge can be very creatively stimulating. Digital photography is a fun way to compose reality into paintings. I love Digital painting because it is easy, fun, no mess and gives me freedom to be even more creative - I won’t shred the paper if my sketching lines need cleaned up or erased 500 times and the layers give me the ability to build a painting without ruining a good part I have finished. Or I can choose to completely paint “wet into wet” digitally and let the strokes flow into being the painting I need to create as it happens. The paint stays wet for me too between sessions if I cannot complete it that day and do not go back to it for six months!
I love the peace and serenity of nature. One of my goals as an artist is to inspire the awe I feel seeing a sunrise or sunset. When I listen to music while painting, it may be anything from country, instrumental harps, new age, classical or jazz to recorded sounds of nature. Painting is painting - traditional or digital require technique, attention to detail, composition, perspective, experimentation and willingness to put passion into your painting.
One pro to Digital painting is no messy cleanup and no fumes. Another pro is that you do not have to pay someone to photograph your artwork to get a quality digital file to make prints or posters - you’ve created that file yourself.
One con is that you do not have a canvas or piece of paper covered with traditional art media on the table in front of you to sell as an original one-of-a-kind artwork. Another con is that those happy accidents in watercolors, oils, and acrylic pigments media can be done away with quite easily if you use layers or undo judiciously and then you lose the opportunity to learn from those accidents or you can overwork your artwork to the point where it loses all spontaneity.
