Welcome to AllArtWorks Featured Artist Series!
1. What other profession is similar to being an artist and why?
I think being an immersive, and dedicated gardener is very similar to being an artist in that you think about colors and placement of the plants, how they will catch the light and be shown off to the best advantage, how much space to give them for the right effect, shadings and gradations of forms and palettes, the chance growth of something not expected and delightful, all go into the beautiful and effective garden.
2. What’s the nicest thing you can remember someone said about your work, or an individual piece?
My artist friends have been so complimentary and encouraging and I have been given so much respect from them that I so appreciated and must pass along. The one statement that touched me the most came from a friend of mine. This was back when I had just started painting and I had painted a garden picture. Hollis said she wanted to buy it and I told her that I was just starting out and should get better. She replied that she loved the painting, it spoke to her.
3. What’s one thing you’d like everyone to know about you as an artist?
I often think that the one thing about my being an artist that I would love to have everyone know is that I only picked up a brush and started painting at the age of 76; every day since then I have been excited to create.
4. What was the last piece of art that you saw that blew you away?
So many types of art blow me away so often! Recently I chanced upon Yeshe Jackson, a Santa Cruz artist whose work is amazing! My all time favorite amazing artist is Tom Killon with his Japanese style woodprints. Oh well, how can I not mention David Hockney?!!!
5. What’s something you haven’t done but you want to do in art/painting?
I have not tried watercolors yet and may do so one day, and I want to do some large modern paintings one day.
I prefer Ingres partly because in these two specific paintings: "The Valpincon Bather" and "Study of a Male Nude," his skin tones, the light and shadowing, the feeling of intimacy that he conveys is captivating.
*The reason we ask about Delacroix and Ingres is because they were contemporaries with wildly different styles!
