JEANNE ILLENYE
Why I Paint
At first, my thought for this studio visit and interview was to share my Biography with you, which is exactly that, an overview about how I began painting in oils by my mother’s side at the wee age of four, my utter delight at discovering Nature by intimately studying every flower petal, rock, dewdrop and bumblebee I could touch, to a developing maturity with regular museum visits in New York which inspired my large, classical still lifes reminiscent of the Dutch masters, and through my 25 year series of Little Gems later sold online. However, since you can read all the details about my artistic growth on my website, I thought it might be a little more insightful and fun to chat with you about a trend that is currently underway on my easels...my new direction, far from the dark, classical old world style oil paintings on which my reputation is based. These new paintings truly reveal reflections from my heart...the very reason why I paint as expressed in my Artist Statement:
“Capturing Nature’s Transient Beauty: It is the common things that are most often taken for granted -- the fruit and flowers of our daily sustenance -- nourishment for body and soul, respectively. These are delicate and fleeting gifts. Through my work, I elicit a greater appreciation for their beauty by elevating them to the forefront of the observer’s attention. While my paintings isolate a particular moment in time, it is through the details -- a browning, torn leaf, the curling of a dried petal, a broken stem, bruised fruit, dewdrops -- that I evoke a sense of transience in Nature’s beauty. I take the observer through many phases of growth from bud to blossom, ripening fruit to withering vine -- life and death and ultimately, rebirth of spirit, for within this beauty we find comfort and peace.”
With that in mind, I’ve chosen to discuss several paintings featured herein, which aspire toward this exciting new direction revealing a lighter, fresher palette with subjects from my gardens and antique collections presented in varying compositional formats from classical still lifes to cropped, zoom in perspectives which are created purely by emotion and intuition rather than with conscious thinking or planning.
Treading Softly
If I wasn’t a still life artist and had more exposure to vast and dramatically scenic areas, I’d no doubt be a landscape artist or perhaps I might have chosen wildlife art. However, since growing up in the suburbs of New York City my focus was directed more toward the earth beneath my feet. I believe that is where the seed was planted and my passion for still lifes began whereby mimicking my childhood curiosity about Nature…when small and close to the ground one can pluck a buttercup or clover, ladybug or feather and examine it with great fascination. To me still life painting is really doing just that but on a more mature level, yet the wonder and enthusiasm is still there. It’s my gift to be able to “see” and to paint is my way of sharing the glory…to feel a kinship with all living things.
Changing a Leopard’s Spots
Having always enjoyed painting fruit and floral still lifes in the classical style, it wasn’t until I began selling online in recent years that I became enlightened by the contemporary work of my peers. I briefly dabbled in these retro subjects but found that I just couldn’t bear to paint a cup without decorative floral or transferware patterns or a spoon without embellishments such as monogram, flower and ribbon engravings. So without realizing it, I was already laying the groundwork for a new direction by utilizing this selection process, fine tuning what I chose as my favorite subjects to paint. Transitioning from classical to contemporary realism truly caused me to feel like a leopard trying to change his spots; it didn’t seem right. It felt like I was changing who I am. However, my draw toward the crisp, bright clarity of my contemporaries’ paintings offered such a sense of refreshment that I became determined to change my spots, as it were...and so I did.
Immersed in a New Light
My emergence did not occur overnight. Rather, it was a long, arduous process of editing my work to the very source of energy within each painting then reducing superfluous content, and most difficult, brightening my palette. While I continued to mix my own colors from the primaries plus white, I chose to eliminate rich backgrounds for a fixed period of time so I would no longer use the depths of shadow as a crutch. It was time to let go of the dark ages and bring myself and my work into a new light. It wasn’t until I began setting up still life arrangements in my light filled studio, as opposed to painting primarily from studies and memory as done with my classical paintings, that I was able to take the next truly daring step which resulted in “Shades of White” the platform from which all subsequent work is now being created. Join me as I continue my artistic journey…Capturing Nature’s Transient Beauty.
JEANNE ILLENYE
No comments:
Post a Comment