Dyan Newton, Artist of Texas, Visual Language Magazine Studio Visit

Dyan Newton is from Abernathy, a small town in West Texas. She could not be the artist she is today without the support of her husband and family, and without her God given talent.   

Dyan discovered her passion for art over 30 years ago, when a neighbor introduced her to tole painting.  She said she would never forget how nervous she was to take that first brush stroke.  While in class, she observed students from across the room oil painting on canvas.  This led to classes in pastels, watercolor and acrylics.  Several years later, she won a first place award at the local fair and said the excitement she felt was indescribable. This would be the start of her career.

Her earlier works were of a realistic style, but, after studying with local and well-known artists throughout the years, she was able to develop her impressionistic style.  She would become widely recognized for her fresh, confident brushwork with bold, rich colors to express her enthusiasm for painting. 

Dyan enjoys painting a variety of subjects from landscapes, architectural, animals, still life, and portraits.  Many areas of interest catch her eye; it can be a dilapidated civil war home in an Amish community in Missouri, a momma cow and her calves roaming down the back roads of a small mountain community in New Mexico, a little boy sitting in the back of a pickup holding his puppy, watching a rodeo, a young child standing in awe while listening to a band in a park, or quaint churches and run down barns and houses off the beaten path.  She can take a photo of a shabby building, church, barn, ranch house and paint with her vibrant colors and bring them back to life.  

Seldom painting with local color, Dyan has developed a palette with bright, rich colors.  Her paintings are bold, energetic and clean, with confident brushstrokes. A constant change of colors keeps her paintings fresh and spontaneous.  Many times she paints her rooftops with brilliant oranges and reds with touch of teal (not having really any meaning but just thinking of cool into warm).  When her painting is near completion, she sporadically uses exciting bold touches of red, teal, pink, whatever feels right at the moment, to finish telling the story. 

Dyan paints many animal portraits in photo-realism. She tells her clients she just needs a good, clear, close up photo, in order to observe every detail.  Her collectors all fall in love with the final painting as Dyan captures their personality perfectly.  

Dyan is a signature member of the West Texas Watercolor Society and a member of Artists of Texas.  She has been juried into many local and regional shows receiving numerous awards.  She also teaches and gives workshops in Amarillo, Lubbock and surrounding communities.

The beauty of a summer day or the innocence and “awe” she sees on a child’s face inspires her to paint.  That is exactly what Dyan wants to capture in each composition to convey that feeling to the viewer, the same initial joy that she felt when she discovered the scene originally.    Many viewers say they love her paintings’ vibrant colors and how they radiate “happiness”.

Dyan Newton’s works can be found in private and corporate collections throughout the United States and internationally.

Her paintings can be viewed at www.dyannnewton.com, www.artistsoftexas.org., and 

peachtreegallerylubbock.com.

Kathy O'Leary Artspan Interview with Visual Language Magazine

When did you realize you loved art and wanted to be an artist? 

In 1989, having rediscovered I still had my drawing skills (developed from early college experience) I was drawn to painting and drawing again as a release from stresses of my job.  As my skills grew rapidly I decided in 1990 that I wanted to leave my job and work closer to the field of art.  After a year working for the local art’s council, being around art every day, artists, helping curate and hang shows,  I quit to work full time at my own art.  I committed myself to learning as much as I could, to see whether I could do this professionally.  I honed my skills working at first in watercolor, pastel, mono printing, and finally trying oils.  From my first experimentation with oils as a medium (in ‘94), I knew immediately that this was my medium and that the life I wanted was as a painter working in oils.

Who has been your mentor, or greatest influence to date? 

I live in an artistically rich community, surrounded by supportive talented artists, but my greatest influence has come from a circle of local women artists (working in various mediums) I’ve grown close to over the years.  They have supported, encouraged and challenged me (and each other) and together we have grown beyond where our individual dreams could have taken us.

Who is another living artist you admire and why?

The artist (and friend) I admire is a painter named Jim McVicker.  He is now beginning to garner much deserved national recognition for his work.  I admire him for his skills as a painter, his ability to interpret beauty in the landscape, the still-life and the figure. All without any apparent ego, willing to share his thoughts, and open to learning from others.  He works only from life.  His studio was close to mine when I was starting out, and I watched him (and his wife, Terry Oats) come to work everyday to his studio 7am - working in the studio or on location, until the sun set.  He was such a good model for me to learn how you grow as an artist.  Now I see his artistic sensibilities, his drive and commitment to his craft paying off.

What is your favorite surface to create work on or to work with? Describe it if you make it yourself. 

My favorite surface to work on is good quality canvas or linen, double primed, preferably oil primed.

What are your favorite materials to use?

My favorite materials include good quality oil paints (I’m still exploring  colors/brands that work best for what I’m trying to do. My favorite medium (used sparingly nowadays) is Dan Smith Alkyd medium, cut with poppy oil and Gamsol (mineral spirits).  My favorite brushes right now are Windsor Newton hog bristle, flats and brights.

Do you have a favorite color palette?

3 blues - Ultra Marine, Kings Blue, Cerulean

3 reds - Alizarin crimson, Cad. Red med or other Medium red &Transparent Earth Red

3 greens - Sap Green, Veridian, Cadmium green

4 yellows - Raw umber, Yellow Ochre, Cad. Yellow deep, Cad. yellow light (or lemon yellow)

White - Usually Titanium or Titanium/zinc white

How often do you work on your artwork? How many hours a week?

I work on my art, almost daily.  At least 6 days/week, probably 40 - 55 hrs/week.

What is the one thing you would like to be remembered for?

Probably the change I made in mid-life from working in the natural food business to being a professional artist. I’m an example of that fact that with hard work, commitment, and a passion for art, it can be done.  

There are many culprits that can crush creativity, such as distractions, self-doubt and fear of failure. What tends to stand in the way of your creativity?

What stands in my way the most is self-doubt, sometimes fear of failing at what I’m trying to do.

How do you overcome these obstacles? 

I over come this, sometimes more successfully than others, by going to work every day.  Starting a new painting.  By reminding myself it’s about the process and not to allow myself to get immersed in the competitive and comparative mode with other artists.  Going to museums, galleries, reading books on art, all show me how very different we all are as artists, and there are many paths to living an artistically creative life. 

What are your inspirations for your work?

My inspiration for my work first and foremost comes from my travels and  explorations of the landscape in my home state, California.   Next it comes from visiting galleries and museums and seeing all the different takes possible on any one subject.  I try to pay attention to what really touches me at a visceral level.  I’m inspired by those artists who take off on a different style, mode to express themselves, particularly those working with the landscape as their subject.

What is your favorite way to get your creative juices flowing?

Some of my favorite ways to get my juices flowing are:

-Meditate first before starting work for the day.

-Doing a small painting (6 x 8) of some subject (ex: photo of a landscape), or small still life, using 100 brush strokes (or close to it).

-Hanging a large piece of blank paper on my wall and with tempera paints, taking about 30 minutes to paint what ever I’m feeling, using big brushes and bright colors )sometimes totally abstract, sometimes figurative).

Which work of yours is your favorite?  

Right now, it’s “Earth, Air, Fire-Mt. Shasta”. Painted on location it’s one of my newest ones.

Getting to know you Q&A

 What is your favorite color in your closet?    Red

What book are you reading this week?  Richard Schmid’s Alla Prima II

Do you have a favorite television show? Bones, & Antiques Road Show

What is your favorite food? East Indian

What color sheets are on your bed right now?  Green

What are you most proud of in your life? With my husband of 47 years, raising an intelligent, sensitive, hard working, progressive son, who in turn is an amazing parent and marriage partner, and making a successful mid-life career change.

Who would you love to interview?  My long dead great uncle, Willard “Spud” Johnson, a writer and poet, and good friend to writers (D.H. Lawrence) and artists (Georgia O’Keefe) in Taos New Mexico between 1930’s - 1960’s. 

Do you have a passion or hobby other than painting?  No.

Who would you love to paint? The women in my circle of women artist friends.

If you were an animal what would you be and why?  Human

If you were stranded on a desert island and could only take three things, what would they be? A watercolor paint set, paper, some good pot.

Share something with us that few people know about you.  That I have a degree in Social Welfare.

If you could live anywhere in the world, where would you live? Somewhere in central, rural California, close to our son and his family, equidistance to both ends of the state I love to paint, with a home and studio surrounded by several acres of natural, interesting landscape.

http://www.kathyoleary.com/

Kimberly Santini capturing the light with Visual Language Magazine Studio Visit

I’ve always been an artist, even if I’ve not actively labeled myself one. As a child, I doodled animals in the margins of spelling tests and daydreamed of painting murals. My parents indulged me with Ebony pencils and gum erasers, and I covered the backside of reams of paper from my father’s office with drawings. I checked out every book on art in our small town library, and was happiest when creating. I would say that’s still a solid truth. Art infuses every bit of my life.

I have a BFA in Painting, but I think the degree/experience that helped me the most was the BA I earned concurrently in Art History. There is nothing like immersing yourself in masterful artwork, dissecting it, learning about the struggles and challenges of prior generations of artists, and refining your own critical eye. The hours spent in a darkened lecture hall, viewing hundreds of slides, and discussing comparisons and contrasts has helped me immensely in learning to recognize and identify the qualities of “good art.”

As a younger artist, I wanted my paintings to look exactly like my subjects. I worked in hyper realism, literally defining each hair. Gradually I became interested in emotional content and symbology, and began working in a looser, more colorful style, allowing the compositions to tell a story. In graduate school I even spent time doing installations and color field abstracted paintings. Currently I concentrate on building mood through use of expressive color and painting the atmosphere around the subject – and those are the things I’m best known for stylistically.

I paint objects that make me smile. Which means there are a lot of animals in the mix, but also vintage books, old toys, and other odd items that I find delightful. I feel it is mostly important that there is soul in my artwork, whether a physical soul from a breathing creature or the soul that cherished memories carry.

Painting animals means I rely on photographs as main sources for my paintings. However, working exclusively from photographs can seriously limit an artists’ options – after all, the camera has only one “eye” and is very skilled at lying. So it’s important to spend lots of time looking at my subjects, studying the light, and trying to work from a visual memory (or life) as much as possible. There is no substitute for knowing your subject matter.

My studio is in my home, which gives me great flexibility to work when the opportunity presents itself. 

I flex my days around my family’s needs – grabbing about 8-10 hours in the studio each day, 6 days every week. Approximately 80% of my time is spent doing things other than making art – maintaining my mailing list, generating marketing materials, managing inventory, handling client correspondence, building lesson plans and class content and singlehandedly doing all the grunt work involved in running a small business.

I’ve been a daily painter since 2006, and create at least 4 new pieces, usually Alla Prima, each week. The commitment to painting daily has taught me discipline and perseverance, often in the face of other obstacles that might otherwise have kept me out of the studio. The act of pushing paint regularly has helped me to work smarter and also freed me up to make – and learn from – a huge variety of mistakes! And painting daily has been a great work ethic model for my kids to see – they have grown up creating (or doing homework) alongside me.

I work in acrylics, mostly because they are fume free (an important aspect when working in one’s home) and quick drying (another important aspect when there is a constant flow of kids coming and going).  I’m also an impatient artist, and acrylic paints enable me to move at a faster pace. When I get an idea, I want to get immediately to the paint – no preliminary sketches or planning – which can mean lots of corrections on the painting. This can be a good thing in that the spontaneity remains visible in the finished piece, but it can also be a detriment when a composition fails due to incomplete planning or lack of thorough thought. And again, acrylics lend themselves perfectly to working in this fashion.

I’m also active in my community – I volunteer at local schools, teach art journaling, and help with programming at my local library. On top of all this, I manage an active exhibition calendar, share my art at juried events around the country and travel to teach multi-day painting workshops.

I wouldn’t have it any other way – days spent playing with pools of color, and getting to share my passion with my family and the community of fans that’s built up on the internet. It’s a great gig!

I am accepting a limited number of commission requests for 2014, including figural and animal portraits. My daily paintings can be seen at http://www.paintingadogaday.com and can be reached via email at ksantini@turtledovedesigns.com . Please follow me on Facebook, where I share in-process photos of paintings on my easel, among other art-related things .

https://www.facebook.com/KimberlyKellySantini?ref=hl

Glenn Moreton Visual Language Artspan Studio Visit

Painting and drawing has always been an essential part of my life.  My aunt remembers me as a toddler propped up on a chair so that I could reach the blackboard that my grandmother had on her kitchen wall, spending hours drawing with colored chalks.  Even during later times of my life when other priorities had taken over and I was not following my creative urges, art was still an essential—albeit suppressed—part of my life.  Even then, my bottled-up compulsion to be an artist was omnipresent (and making me miserable).    It seemed as if something inside me was fighting relentlessly to emerge.   Finally in 1985,after years of skirting around this creative need, I acquiesced and began painting professionally.  I have enjoyed making up for lost time ever since!

Composition:

When I paint, my primary goal is to create a composition that is aesthetically exciting.  The typical viewer of photorealist or hyperrealist art will first be impressed with the often startling realism recreated in these genres of paintings—the striking reflections in a storefront window, the drama created by carefully placed shadows, or the flashy rendering of an automobile.  Sometimes I find that photorealist/hyperrealist painters can duplicate reality with a technical facility that is awe inspiring, but their paintings may to have little to offer to the viewer beyond that technical slickness.  Like all such artists, I attempt to create a technically sharp realistic image, but contrary to what one may suspect, that is not my chief preoccupation:  composition is what fascinates me.  To me, a complicated, tenuously, carefully balanced composition is extremely satisfying and contributes more deeply to the overall power of the work than do mere flashy rendering techniques alone.  

My Process:

A major part of my process is selection of the scene to be painted.  I go to numerous locales, take countless photos and examine them, combine them, etc. often taking months until I find the right combination of visual elements, the right composition.  My paintings are not mere reproductions of these photographs.  I alter, rearrange, distort, remove, and simplify design elements according to the needs of my composition.  My compositions always make use of visual rhythms--often through the repetition of similar shapes, through the contrast of vertical against horizontal elements, and through balancing of elements by use of color relationships. 

Often--but not always--I briefly project slides of my photos onto the canvas, using projection as an initial tool in my painting process.  Artists (e.g., van Eyck, Holbein, Caravaggio, etc.) began making heavy use of such optical tools early in the Renaissance, and have continued ever since.  I project only a rough outline, after which, I continue with a more detailed freehand drawing .   Not until this initial drawing is made do I begin painting.  As I paint, I constantly change the drawing as I proceed, often distorting elements of the drawing/painting in order to enhance the composition, or to pull the viewer’s eye into the work.  

With my focus on drawing, it is not surprising that a specific characteristic of my process includes careful attention to line work.  Loving lines and the visual energy that they project, I carefully outline all of the objects in my paintings, occasionally coloring the line in a hue that contrasts to the color of object, and using strong lines on outside edges of objects, and weaker lines on internal edges of objects--all techniques to better define how the object cuts through space and to make that image visually “pop.”  

Another characteristic of my process is that I use the paint as both an opaque and a transparent medium (e.g. using glazes to create specific effects such as soft shadows, objects viewed through glass, the haze on distant elements in the landscape, etc.).  As a quickly drying medium, acrylic paints facilitate the use of these dual techniques.

My Subjects:

It may surprise some people to learn that initially I pay little attention to the subject content of my painting.  When selecting a subject that I am going to paint, I choose one with elements that will work aesthetically into an exciting composition.  After that, I try to select subjects that suggest a distinctive mood that is representative of that particular locale; I try to give the observer a sense of place (though generally I try to avoid using obvious landmarks).  Another characteristic of my works is that often they combine a hodgepodge of seemingly unrelated, contrasting subject components that blend together in a surprisingly unified whole.

I intentionally avoid consciously selecting my subject matter along political, social, or philosophical themes.  Such calculated depiction of the artist’s viewpoint may seem heavy-handed and risks trivializing more profound subliminal messages.  Also I avoid overanalyzing the subject content of my work.  For me, nothing is more tedious than hearing artists drone on and on about the “profound” meaning of their work.  Artwork should speak for itself.  I find that when an artist designs a work to project a specific point of view or a very personal esoteric subject, the viewer’s experience is overly predefined and limited.

Yet, even though I intentionally avoid painting that overtly expresses a specific viewpoint, I must admit that I when I look at my completed paintings, I do find that my works do tend to spontaneously project certain themes nevertheless.  I find that these themes are all the more interesting, powerful, and universal because of the fact that they have evolved unconsciously and unintentionally.  One recurrent theme that I find in much of my work is that of the dynamics of change with the passage of time.   Another theme is the juxtaposition of the urban environment’s complexity with that same setting’s role as a human environment.   Finally, I find that my work often celebrates scenes that are uniquely American and typical of the U.S urban landscape.  

Visit my website: http://glennmoreton.artspan.com/

Photography Interview Tom Peterson, Artspan, VL Magazine January 2014

I took early retirement from The Hartford Financial Group in September of 2003.  That year, I devoted myself to learn and develop as a Documentary and Fine Arts photographer.  I was originally influenced by the life and photography of Eugene Atget, the French photographer whose work concentrated on “Old” Paris during the early 20th Century.  Since 2005, I have dedicated myself to photographing the disappearing sections of Connecticut cities and, more recently, New York’s 5th Avenue.

I generally find places that are in a state of change and often return to them. The more I return, the more I see. That familiarity provides me with opportunities to create unique sets of images and themes.

Many of my photographs focus on an abstract view of every day structures and close-up subjects we often pass by, but rarely notice.   My objective is to find and photograph the uncommon within the commonplace.  

The photographs included in my portfolio, “Around Here”, are part of an ongoing series taken while walking along side streets, back alleys, and vacant buildings in Connecticut’s urban centers.  These particular photographs were taken in once vibrant, industrial neighborhoods that have been left in a state of urban decay.

I have imagined myself an archeologist finding small pieces of abstract art that have gone unnoticed.  Each subject was selected for its vibrant color, shape and texture.  I share any success with my partners, “Time” and “Weather”. 

“Around Here” is one of six portfolios that are currently on my Artspan website, 

www.tpeterson45.com