Martin creating “One for Sadness,” which is currently showing as part of our Monochrome exhibition. Want to watch a time lapse of Martin’s process? Click this link—https://youtu.be/vSEWziuY8zonow
CAL aims to help artists succeed, whether that's offering skill building classes, the opportunity to exhibit work in our gallery, or sell work in our Gift Gallery. Our Artist on Display series invites you to get to know our artists a little bit better!
ABOUT THE PROCESS
Hope’s process involves three stages: play, pursuit, and performance. She claims these stages create the foundation of “a process that can reliably take me from inspiration to art.”
HM: That process I mention has settled into 3 defined parts: Play (loose sketching in my sketchbook), Pursuit (taking a sketch I liked and developing it further in black/white, then in color) & Perform (taking the things I learned along the way and applying them to a bigger piece).
HM: Having these steps/stages gives me time and space to think about what I’m doing and how I’m doing it. It gives me time to find inspiration along the way.
HM: Not every sketchbook sketch goes on to the next stage. Not every Pursuit piece becomes the final. Even in the Performance stage I learn and modify things.
HM: Rather than being caught up in the final piece, my focus has become the process itself. I enjoy that with such intensity that the final product has become an added benefit.
FINDING INSPIRATION
HM: I’ve done a few landscapes but I want to see what’s crawling up that tree or hiding under that bush or flying over that mountain.
HM: I want to paint life up close! To entice people to really look at the incredible details I see in animals and plants when I get REALLY close. Even “pests” like starlings have a beauty to them and I find that some people have never taken the time to really notice.
HM: “One for Sadness”... Started with the idea of focusing on ravens this year. Sort of pursuing a theme or series. I love most birds and have always admired ravens so why not? But other than the subject, I had no direction to begin with.
EXPLORING NEW THEMES
HM: At some point along the way, I stumbled across this magpie nursery rhyme and the idea for the series was born: Counting Corvids. (I have a thing for alliteration) I’m working on “Two for Mirth” now. I think I’m nearly done with it. Sometimes it is hard to tell. It focuses more on the energetic texture of happiness where “One for Sadness” focuses on the stark details of intense sadness.
HM: The third in this series is still a nebulous idea dealing with death and the number three. I hope to start sketching it out soon.
JOINING THE COMMUNITY
HM: Through CAL’s CEP, I’ve met people that I would not have otherwise:
· a retired bus-driver who bought my horse painting for his daughter who loves horses
· a nurse who bought my tabby cat painting that uncannily resembled her recently deceased and beloved pet
· a professor who bought my tree frog painting that reminded her of pleasant memories of times spent on the deck where these critters were often found.
· And students who have become friends.
HM: Through CAL, I’ve found connection to the community I live in.
If you are an artist interested in getting involved with CEP OR if you are a business who would like to have our CEP artists fill your business with art, contact us here: CEP@columbiaartleague.org
