Sunday 10:00- ????? critique, clean
up.
More About Nancy:
ARTIST’S STATEMENT
I
began painting figures with Marc Chatov, the premier figure and
portrait artist in the southeast, and with Burton Silverman and Daniel
Green, figure and portrait artists with signal reputations in the
northeast.
It was in meeting Ann Templeton, a well known western
landscape painter, that moved me to paint plein air. The discipline
of plein air painting puts the finest point on the necessity of editing;
combining hues of the same color to make a few beautiful shapes.
I continued study with plein air painters Kim
English, Sue Stewart, Roger Dale Brown and Perry Austin, learning the
lessons of control and restraint. When that lesson moved from my head
to the brush everything improved; landscapes, and most certainly,
portraits.
ON PAINTING THE FIGURE
I believe a good figurative painter must reveal more
than how a person looks. He must imbue the work with the sitter's
character. It is a matter of intention. If the artist can name the
quality and aims to paint it, he has a shot at creating the "truth" of
her for the viewer to read. It is a mysterious process and most
figurative painters cannot tell you how they succeed, only that the
effort is essential to the success of the finished product.
My Scandinavian heritage may account for the strong
inclination I have for narrative painting. In the harsh climate of
Norway and Sweden where shortened winter days lead to an acceptance of
the brevity of beauty and the beauty of simplicity, excess is not a
natural choice. Excesses of color, marks or competing focus are
rejected. The challenge of narrative painting in my consciousness is to
reduce the excesses to the spareness of a single strength and to tell
my sitter's "story" with economy and an even tenor which reveals both
mind and spirit.
I love the work of Sargent, Sorrolla, Henri, Cassat and Hopper.
