Artist Interview: Patty Voje.

 Today's interview is with an artist I discovered on Daily Paintworks.  If you don't know about this site, it is a nifty place where many artists post work on a daily basis (what commitment!).  I have high hopes of joining their ranks again someday, but for the moment my time is being spent in the barn (and the garden if it ever dries out).  Anyway, back to the topic at hand.  Patty Voje is a Minnesota based artist, and she skillfully paints animals, still lifes, and landscapes alike.  Her semi-looseness in her brush strokes is what drew me to her work--that and she paints Brown Swiss!  So let's get to know here better:

1. Were you always an art kid, or did you stumble upon it later in life?

I loved art as a kid. I remember being in elementary school and my Mom signed me up for a summer arts and crafts program. I could have sat inside all day and glued things together!

"#240 Miss World" 24x24 Oil on Cradled Gessobord. 

2. What style of art is your favorite and why?

I like alla prima oil painting, representational art. Because it’s telling a story without explaining everything. You get to fill in the blanks.

"#208 Stay" 6x6 Oil on Gessobord.

3. What do you use for inspiration, or how do you generate ideas?

Just taking in my surroundings. I have a hard time keeping my eye on the road anytime I’m driving through the country. I always keep a camera handy.

"#310 Big Prick" 6x6 Oil on Gessobord.

4. Walk us through your creative process from idea to finished project.

This one varies. But it usually starts with stumbling onto a scene I think I’d really like to paint. If I’m out with my plein air gear I can dig in, if not I grab my camera and grab as many images as possible. Then I decide my cropping. When I’m painting from reference photos I don’t worry about matching colors, backgrounds etc., I try hard to use them as reference. Normally my goal is to capture whatever light effect caught my eye. I don't methodically lay out my paints in a tidy organized manner and mix them in advance. I just put out colors as I go along and see what works.

"254 Big Shot" 6x6 Oil on Gessobord.

5. What is a typical day in your life?

I’m a bit of a workaholic. I don’t sleep as much as I should. I get up at 7, hit the gym, roll into my day job (I own a marketing agency) around 9. Work there til 6 or so, go home, have dinner, walk the dogs and PAINT. I usually paint about 3 hours a night. Then I post, blog, catch the news, read a bit and call it a day around midnight. I will say, when I say I’m a daily painter, I mean it. Unless I’m traveling. I paint Monday - Sunday. During the week I keep to my 3 hours, on the weekends I try for 5 to 6 hour sessions.

"#135 High Noon"  8x10 Oil on Gessobord.

6. What do you think draws you to other people’s work?

Color and brush work.

"#244 Lola" 6x6 Oil on Gessobord.

7. What are your interests/hobbies?

My schedule doesn’t allow much time for other hobbies, but my dogs and working out are important. I wish I had more time to read. I love, love , love music and always have it playing when I paint.

"#259 Lost In France" 24x24 Oil on Cradled Gessobord. 

8. Is this your full time job, or do you have a job out-of-studio?

I have a real job :) I own a marketing agency. I’ve spent the better part of my career as a designer/creative director. Now it’s more managing the business along with some creative direction. I very much enjoy both my day job and my art. It makes for a busy schedule, but they balance each other out. I need the day job for community and interaction. I think I’d be lonely if I worked in a studio all day by myself. Also, it gives me more freedom with my art. It allows me ample time and finances to travel for events and workshops and I don’t feel like I have to sell to pay bills or to make an audience happy. It allows me to really paint what I want to paint, even if it’s not well received. I will say though, I do plan to work less hours at my day job and commit more time to painting.

"#38 Pig Headed" 6x6 Oil on Gessobord.

9. What is your favorite piece you’ve ever made and why?

I painted a street scene in Cinque Terre, Italy last fall. It’s my favorite for a few reasons - first - it turned out :), second - I will always remember painting that scene. I had gotten up before the rest of the town and painted as the shops were opened and people started their day. I felt so lucky to be there and it was funny to set up my gear so early in the morning, sun not up yet, no one around, took some guts on my part, I must say.

"#175 Cinque Terre, Italy" 8x6 Oil on Gessobord.

10. What advice would you give to an artist just starting out in the business world?

Paint everyday. That’s been the most important thing I’ve done. That has really changed everything.

"#317 Snack Time" 6x6 Oil on Gessobord.

11. Describe your work space.

It’s a small studio in my house, probably only 10 x 11 feet. But, it’s mine to make a mess in. I have drying shelves on the walls that hold my small daily paintings. Windows that open. A space for still life set up and two easels and a work table in between the two. And there’s a dog bed for my bulldogs, who like to hang out with me in the evening.

"#149 Social Suicide" 6x8 Oil on Gessobord.

12. Did you face any setbacks on your path to being an artist?

It’s such an impractical pursuit, I don’t know a single artist who hasn’t hit setbacks or discouragement. First you have to get past all the people who think you’re being ridiculous, then you have to be able to give yourself permission. Get past those and you’re home free, sort of :)

The Lovely Artist Herself.

13. What milestones, goals, or achievements are you striving for right now?

I’d like to get into more galleries. I’ve got some ideas for shows I’d like to put together. Some that would be a departure from my beloved farm animals. Most importantly, just keep learning, because no matter where you are, that never stops. I’ll never perfect this and that’s the fun part!

Patty, thank you so much for taking the time to answer some questions.  

If you'd like to see more:
Her gallery on Daily Paintworks.
Her Website. 
Her Facebook Page.
Her Blog.
Her Instagram.

Artist Interview: Another Conversation with John W. Shanabrook

Almost two years ago now, I got the wonderful opportunity to interview an artist whose paintings often make my heart catch in my chest. Quite a bit has changed in his world since that time, and he's graciously agreed to let me interview him once again with a whole fresh batch of questions. So without further introduction by me, here is a second interview with John W. Shanabrook, complete with some of his more recent work to illustrate the post: 

1. I write "Once Upon a Time" type stories about the dream life I long for. What would your "Once Upon a Time" consist of?

A small, bright, and quiet house on the shortgrass prairie of Eastern New Mexico.

"A Grocer's, a dark day, a song"

2. Can you give me some insight into where your wonderful titles come from?

That’s a good question, Julia, especially because I don’t really know. It’s a little mysterious, a little ghostly. I think of my mind as wandering through an attic of association and implication and feeling, picking up and discarding odd objects and remembrances and quotations and words until what it holds in its mental hands are, suddenly, resonant and poetry.

"Comes a Dark Hero with a Dire Taste for Gunpowder Dramatics" 

3. The places you paint, are they memories, places you've read about, or just from your imagination (or a combination of all three)?

These landscapes are essentially what my heart makes of what I’ve known, of what I might long for, and of what sometimes happens unexpectedly at three in the morning.

"Hidden Winter"

4. What do you think people would be surprised to learn about you?

Five years ago, a medical school in Ohio offered me a place in their class of 2010.

"Milkmaid's Moon"

5. Do you have any artists you're currently admiring?

I don’t know why it is, but admiration’s something I’ve never been very good at.

"Night Softly"

6. Where do you spend time online? What sites do you gawk at or read, if any?

I try to stay away from the Internet for entertainment, using it only for my painting and for buying things I need. I’m not always successful, but it terrifies me how much time I can spend online to no real purpose otherwise.

"Night to the Plateau"

7. What's your favorite season and why?

Summer, to be sure, because summer is warmth and warmth is freedom. There’s certainly more poetry in fall, winter, and spring, but there’s not as much life.

"Plains Morning, Christmas"

8. What is your favorite book?

This is a question I could never answer. If you were to ask me to name the one book I’d take with me to a desert island, I’d probably just ask for paper and pencil so I could write my own.

"The Spinney"

9. Do you work in any mediums besides oil? Is there any medium you've wanted to try?

Just oil. Oil paint and words. I don’t know which I’m better at. 

"Shotgun Storm"

10. You said you didn't start out being an artist, tell me about what made you try painting. What made you stick with it?

I tried painting because one Christmas a very good friend of mine named Margaret surprised me with a packet of panels and a clever little painting box of Winsor & Newton paints and brushes. I stuck with painting because I’m a terribly sedulous and persevering and stubborn soul.

"Smolder"

11. It's hard to find much about you out there—is the mystery purposeful or just coincidence?

It’s pretty simple, really. All my life I’ve stayed out of the world.

"The Pumpkin Field"

12. What else should people know about you or your work?

My landscapes often surprise me into liking them. They sometimes seem to know far more about the world than I do.

"To Go a Silver Journey"

Find more of John's Work here:

Website:  jwshanabrook.com
Seminary Road on Etsy:  seminaryroad.etsy.com
Wordpress Blog:  jwshanabrook.wordpress.com

Previous Interview Here.

And a huge thanks to John for being kind enough to take the time to answer my questions.

Artist Interview: Brienne Brown.

I found this artist via Daily Paintworks which is a wonderful place to discover new art every day.  Brienne has a handle on Watercolors to be inspired greatly by.  I hope you enjoy her work and her interview as much as I did.  Here is Brienne Brown:

   

1.  Were you always an art kid, or did you stumble upon it later in life?

Always an art kid! I loved to draw at an early age. I had a fantastic Jr. High art teacher that taught me how to see as an artist and draw. I also took private lessons from her. When I started painting, my mom would complain that I didn’t own an article of clothing without paint on it. I hardly ever thought to change my clothes before painting… I just had to get started. I still have this problem. I continued studying art through college. However, I had not thought of art as a career until later in life. I started a double major in art and chemistry at the University of Utah, but only completed a B.S. in Chemistry. I had always thought that art would just be a hobby that I would enjoy from time to time. However, while I was in graduate school for chemistry, I had no time to paint or draw, and found myself very unhappy. So, I took a community watercolor class ensuring I would have at least 2 hours per week devoted to art. This was my first lesson that art was more to me than a passing hobby, it was essential to my happiness. I have made it a priority ever since. I also found my true love during those community classes: watercolor! I finished a Master’s degree and worked for a number of years as a Toxicologist, while being sure to make time for painting. However, it wasn’t until my husband and I had our first son, and I decided to stay home, that I also started a career as a professional artist.

Early Evening.

 2.  What style of art is your favorite and why?

I like a lot of styles, but I guess my favorite would be impressionism. I like paintings that look like paintings, not photographs. I like to feel the impressions and feelings that an artist had for the scene, not just a record or statement of what they saw. I also like paintings that tell a story. Some of my favorite master artists would have to be Vincent Van Gogh, Paul Cezanne, Claude Monet, John Singer Sargent, and Edward Hopper. Some of my favorite more recent artists are John Pike, Joseph Zbukvic, Alvaro Castagnet, Robert Wade, and Dean Mitchell.

Flat Iron and Hunter's Home.

3.  What do you use for inspiration, or how do you generate ideas?

I find beauty in everyday life, the so called “mundane”. Ordinary people going about their everyday lives inspire me. I especially enjoy painting ‘en plein air’, where each painting reminds me of where I was, of the experiences I had, the sounds, smells, and the people I met. My paintings are always more about a moment in time than about a particular location. Being a landscape artist, my favorite way to get inspiration is to paint on location, painting ‘en plein air’. I love to be outside, experiencing the place I am painting, in an attempt to paint my impression of the place. I also get inspiration from photos and sketches of places as I travel. I like including figures in my landscape and cityscape paintings, so I often sketch figures from observation and my own imagination. These sketches are not only useful tools, but good practice for when I paint ‘en plein air’. After all, people are usually not standing still as I paint. I have to be quick!

Moo's Cows and Dusk.

4.  Walk us through your creative process from idea to finished project.

I love the wonderful sense of freedom, and slightly controlled chaos, that watercolor provides. All of my paintings begin with choosing a subject, whether I am on location or painting from photographs. I look for interesting shapes, designs, and light patterns. After a small value sketch, where I plan my composition, I lightly draw on my paper for a general guideline. I then paint a first wash in one go, only painting around a few areas that I want to remain white. This first wash is my favorite step, fast and messy! While the first wash is drying, I look for inspiration in the scene, in the people I see, and in the paint on the paper. I start to look less and less at the scene in front of me, and more at my evolving painting. This helps me to focus less on the details of my subject, and more on my impressions of where I am. If you would like more details about my process, please refer to my blog: http://briennembrown.com/blog/65193/painting-on-location. I have a number of posts that explain my process in detail, and I also have many step by step demonstrations.

Brienne working en Plein Air.

5.  What is a typical day in your life?

Haha… A typical day in my life at this point doesn’t always involve art. I have two very active boys, ages 3 and 5. So, my days are crazy and chaotic. However, like I said previously, I have made a commitment to make the time to paint. My boys are now in kindergarten and pre-school, so I get about 20 hours per week for art related activities. I will walk you through a typical art day…

I wake-up at 6:30am to get my oldest out the door and on the bus by 7:20am. I then get my youngest ready for the bus by 8:10am. With both boys gone, I eat breakfast and take a quick shower in peace. Now it is time to get to work. If I am going to paint ‘en plein air’, I grab my stuff and leave. If I am working in the studio, I get my reference photo and sketchbook and start planning my painting. Depending on the size, I can usually finish a painting by 12:00-1:00pm. I have learned to work fast…I have to. Also, even though my painting time is short, while I am with my boys, I am thinking of my next painting and planning some of it in my head. This helps. My youngest gets home around 1:30pm. The rest of my day is spent with the boys and doing house work. After putting the boys to bed, I usually spend some time each night for the ‘business side of art’: updating inventory, photographing art work, printing out reference photos, updating my website, or anything else that might need to be done. I would love more time to paint, but that is just not possible at this time in my life. I know it will come. For now, I have made a commitment to myself to do what I can, and not put the brush down while my kids are young. I am an artist. I paint because I have to! It is necessary!

A Plein Air set up and Black Moshannon.

 6.  What do you think draws you to other people's work?

This is an interesting question…I like a lot of styles of art work. As I said before, my favorite style is probably impressionistic paintings. However, I am drawn to many styles, subjects and mediums. I guess what draws me most to a work of art, besides good design, is an intangible quality that I call expressionism. One of my college professors took us to an art show of an artist whose name I don’t remember, but her style was described as ‘abstract expressionism’. I can’t even describe the impact those paintings had on me. The paintings were more than wonderful abstract paintings. As I studied them, I felt a range of different emotions and was completely drawn to them. That is what I strive to convey in my work and what I like to see in other artists work. Now, one thing I love about art is that different artists will connect with different viewers, but I think that is what artists try to do.

Shorty's House and Whitehall Fields.

 7.  What are your interests/hobbies?

My main interests, at this time in my life, are my family and my art. However, I also love to read fiction, some non-fiction, and (surprise, surprise) art books. I play the piano, or I used to. My boys don’t let me play much anymore. Every time I start, they come to help… and I am sure you can imagine how well that goes. I like to play sports, especially softball and volleyball. I play volleyball once a week with some great ladies and it has been a great stress reliever. Among other things, I like to hike, camp, and cook.

8.  Is this your full time job, or do you have a job out-of-studio?

I think of myself as a full-time mother and part-time artist. However, as my boys grow older, I will get to make more time for painting. 

Brienne's Studio.

9.  What is your favorite piece you've ever made and why?

Boy, this is the toughest question you have asked. I don’t think I can pick one favorite. I have many for various reasons. Each one reminds me of either a place or time in my life. Also, I am always looking forward to the next painting…

However, two that stand out in my mind are ‘Discussing Grandpa’s House’ and ‘Garek’. My painting, ‘Discussing Grandpa’s House’, I painted from a photo I took of a wonderful old house down the street from where I live. No, it is not my grandfather’s house, but my grandfather had passed away earlier that year. The man that owns the house has been placed in a rest home, so it has fallen under disrepair, but I love it. With the experience of my own grandfather, I could just imagine the family’s discussion of what to do with the house after their father/grandfather passes away. This is something that happens in many families at one point or another. My other painting that I like, ‘Garek’, is a painting of my youngest son. I like it not just because it is a painting of my son, but the method I used. I actually painted this during a workshop I took. The artist was giving us ideas for mixed media paintings. This was done with watercolor, fluid acrylics, and oil pastel. I think I like this painting because it was so fun to paint. I have done others paintings with this method, but I love this one because it just seemed to paint itself. That is an exciting, but rare event. This is one of those paintings that I will never sell. 

Way's Fruit Farm.

 10.  What advice would you give to an artist just starting out in the business world?

The best advice I got, was from a friend and fellow artist, Rob Adamson. He told me to just paint and show my work, the rest would take care of itself. At first, I didn’t believe him, but he was right. Keep painting (or working in whatever medium you do), perfecting your art, and get it out there for people to see. It is not quick! Here is some more good advice:

“Don’t think of going into art to become a millionaire. Go there because there is no other choice. Something deep inside you propels you, a voice that demands to be heard.” -Carl Purcell

Painting Demo and Finished Piece, Autumn Morning.

11.  Describe your work space.

My workspace is just a spare room in our house. It has an important feature: a door that locks! This helps keep my boys out. One day my oldest found a squirt bottle and proceeded to spray one of my paintings. Luckily, he didn’t totally ruin it, hey maybe he even helped it… But, I will tell you that he never did that again. I have two working tables and a large easel for larger works of art. I have shelves for stuff, always lots of stuff. I have my ‘plein air’ bag always ready to go. I have a flat file to hold paper, unframed paintings, mat board, etc. One project I have this spring is to build some storage for framed paintings. Right now, they are hanging on my walls and leaning against other walls. I need more room! It is an ongoing discussion I have with my husband…

Discussing Grandpa's House.

12.  Did you face any setbacks on your path to being an artist?

Sure. My biggest setback was probably when I stopped painting during graduate school like I explained earlier. Now, I wasn’t a professional artist at the time, but I have always been an artist at heart, I just had to learn that. Other than that, I am not sure I have had what I would call setbacks, more detours. Having more children have been detours for me. Also, I have not set really high goals for myself yet until my children grow older. But, I have been improving my art by painting as much as I can. Though I always want more time…

Garek.

13.  What milestones, goals, or achievements are you striving for right now?

I have set goals to make more time, to paint more often, especially ‘en plein air’. Also, I am working on earning signature status in the American Watercolor Society and the National Watercolor Society. These are my main goals and achievements I am working on right now. I have other more long term goals, like teaching more workshops, which I really enjoy. However, some of these goals might have wait until my boys are older and I can make more time…

Thank you so much for taking the time to answer my questions and letting me show off your lovely work.

You can find Brienne Brown at Daily Paintworks, her website, and her blog

Artist Interview: John W. Shanabrook

**A more recent interview with John W. Shanabrook can be found here.**

It has been a little while since I have interviewed anyone for the blog, and so I'm remedying that right now.  Here is an interview with a very fascinating painter named John W. Shanabrook.  He has a shop on Etsy called ArtistiicAbandon filled with eye-catching oils.  So, without further delay let's get to the questions.

Green Roof Farm.

1. Were you always an art kid, or did you stumble upon it later in life?

When I was a kid I read a lot. Or I made little scrap-wood boats to float in a creek that crossed the grounds of convent not far from my house. Art was never anything I thought about or knew. The closest I came to art was buying (many years later) a handful of Conté Criterium 550 pencils in Haarlem, just west of Amsterdam, from an art store that was going out of business. I can’t even tell you why I bought those pencils—if it wasn’t for their beautiful, bright, new-grass colors—but I still have them.

Oak Day.

2. What style of art is your favorite and why?

I much love the Hudson River School of painting, and among its artists, George Inness especially. Inness has a darkness and a spirituality that thrill me. How shall I put it? His paintings are perfectly present, but they have an atmospheric imperfection that I find immensely attractive.

Pop Creek Dusk.

3. What do you use for inspiration, or how do you generate ideas?

I let the painting, what’s happening in the painting, inspire me. What happens, happens at the easel. Only rarely do I come to my canvas with an idea of what I want to put down. And more often than not, even if I come to the easel with something in mind, half an hour later I’m painting something wholly different.

Spring Traverse.

4. Walk us through your creative process from idea to finished project.

This is directly related, for me, to your question on inspiration. And at the risk of sounding facetious, I’ll say my creative process is the act of painting itself. My paintings are, therefore, largely process-directed. In this sense, I tend to discover my works rather than paint them. Or perhaps I capitalize on emerging possibilities. Very often I'll overpaint old paintings and canvases, though in the finished work very little might remain visible of what's underneath. You could say I make the past my partner. Which means that the fortuitous is also often a factor in my process. Very few of us can be as subtle and perfect as the aleatory and the evanescent are.

Storm's Light.

5. What is a typical day in your life?

Typically I wake early, sometimes at 4 a.m., have coffee or breakfast, and start painting. This is partly because I like to have something accomplished early in the day and partly because I just can’t sleep! After painting, I’ll take my mom to the gym so she can walk around the track there while I either row or swim. Then in the afternoon it’s freelance editing or more painting, perhaps a long run on the trail not far from my house, something to eat, general work around the studio, more painting if the morning wasn’t particularly successful, and then sleep. My life’s a very quiet one.

Ten Sleep Dusk Wyoming.

6. What do you think draws you to other people's work?

The great thing that draws me to another artist’s work is the suggested, the implied, the shadowing forth of possibility. What I truly love is art that tiptoes up to its revelation but then stops and says to the viewer, in effect, “You go first.”

The 6 a.m. Harlot.

7. What are your interests/hobbies?

Though I read and run, painting tends to be all-consuming. If I’m not painting, I’m often simply compelling myself to get going and start painting.

Thunderhead.

8. Is this your full-time job, or do you have a job out-of-the-studio?

When I’m not painting, I work as a freelance copyeditor. There’s an enormous difference between these two jobs. The latter, editing, requires consistency and vastly aggressive attention to detail, while the former, painting, usually works best for me when I abandon detail and strive for the immediate. If someone’s in the studio with me, conversation is one way of achieving this, though when I get deep into a work and am bringing it to some point of finish, I generally fall silent.

Workspace.

9. What is your favorite piece you've ever made and why?

Undoubtedly I prefer some paintings to others, but I’d find it almost impossible to say that one painting alone stands out from all the others. Often though, I’m very much in love with paintings I’ve finished recently—for example, Bringing Us (The Hilltop), and The Wet Day. This is what I mean by coming to the brink of revelation. Knowing when to stop (and make it, in my opinion, sooner rather than later) is invaluable.

Painting and some tools of the trade.

10. What advice would you give to an artist just starting out in the business world?

I confess to knowing very little of the business world. My only advice to any artist just starting out in the business world would be that he never let business get in the way of art, and that he work at his art every day, every single day, without fail. This may be naive. I hope it isn’t.

Bring Us (The Hilltop).

11. Describe your work space.

I work in an altogether bright and high-ceilinged room with floor to ceiling (almost) French windows and a white wainscot, the wainscot proving super handy for propping up drying paintings.

Color Up.

12. Did you face any setbacks on your path to being an artist?

Having never seen myself as on a path toward where I am now, I’d have to admit that I never met any setbacks in getting here. Or if setbacks there were, I never saw them as such at the time. Perhaps I’ve been fortunate in that I became a painter before I very much knew I wanted to be one.

Far Meadow.

13. What milestones, goals, or achievements are you striving for right now?

My only goal right now is, quite honestly, a daily goal: paint, and paint well. I don’t always achieve this goal, as far as painting well goes, but even failure has its heroism (or I’d like to think it does).

The Wet Day.

Thank you so much, John, for taking the time to answer my questions!