In this interview, I asked one of my past classmates from my community college, Bobbie Brown, what her creative process is like and what her experience as a non-traditional student. You can check out more of her work on her webpage at Bobbie Brown Fine Art.
Q: What do you do? Who are you? (Please describe what kind of work or artwork you do.)
A: I am first and foremost, someone who draws. This is the crucial underlying skill for my painting (in watercolor and in oils) and sculpting. I am still finding out who I am and what I do, but my goals include portraits in all media. Even if I do a landscape, there is usually some live creature in there somewhere. I am currently sculpting a short series of small figures of playing children, about 8-10 inches tall. I am painting landscapes (and wild animals) from an Artist In Residency experience, I did last summer, for a showing later this spring. I am currently working up some simple watercolor sketches of animals, to demonstrate watercolor painting to children at the local National Recreation Area visitors' center -- plan B; we will probably film this demo for online showing.
Apart from that, I am also an ESL teacher, online to Japan every day to help people prepare for international English tests. I'm a grandmother, trained musician, fiber artist (spinning, knitting, whatever) and still looking for new skills and knowledge as I enter my eighth decade.
Q: What is it like being a nontraditional art student? What inspired you to go back to school?
A:I was inspired to pursue art lessons at the local college because, for the first time in my life, I had time to do it. My husband had passed, and I'd had cataract surgery which gave me 20/20 vision -- an unsettling experience for someone as nearsighted as I had been all my life. I have drawn all my life, informally, and had always wanted to learn art skills in a formal setting, and I heard they had a good drawing teacher over at the college. Once I started I immediately fell down the rabbit hole and took every art class they offered; finishing with a
second A.A. degree over four years. The staff and students were very kind to me, and I gained a lot of confidence and experience. I still audit for access to the clay studio and kilns, and they are still the kindest bunch of people I know!
Q: What inspires you to create artwork?
A: Everything and anything I see! A bird on a fence, a grandchild pondering her toes, the sculpted lines and shadows in a speaker's face at church. My warning to friends and family is: "If it holds still, I will draw it". I've always been a watcher of my environment, and am easily distracted by light, color, and texture. In fact, my driving has disintegrated somewhat due to looking around so much! I try to be careful.
Self Portrait, Ceramic Raku
Q: What are the first three things you do when you start a new project?
A: Sketch, sketch, sketch! Sometimes a full pencil or charcoal sketch with hatching and shading, but my preference is to draw directly in pen and ink. I'm searching for the important lines of the subject, and try to get a powerful idea with fewer lines, as I go along. If I'm working toward a painting, the steps are (1) draw, (2) watercolor and (3) take it to the canvas.
Drawing gives me the line and composition, watercolors solidify my color palette, and then I can layout the oils with a solid idea in my head. I never draw on the canvas. My process is to lay on a wash in monochrome (usually burnt sienna but it varies), then "sculpt" out my subject with dry brushes and paper towels (and fingers) to free the light areas and highlights. I often don't use any white paint except for highlights, as I can carve out the toned canvas for most light or white areas when I begin.
With clay works, I also sketch ahead of working the clay. I often google and draw sculpted works that I admire, and might draw anatomical parts from several sculptures to get the shapes into my head. These are incomplete and partial sketches that live in my grubby studio notebook, not finished works. My sculpting rarely matches the drawings, but they inform my hands so I can work pretty effectively toward the image in my mind.
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