“Painting is a source of endless pleasure, but also of great anguish.”- Balthus
“When you are painting a landscape, assume the painting is real and the landscape is an illusion.”- Darby Bannard
"I cannot pretend to be impartial about the colors. I rejoice with the brilliant ones, and am genuinely sorry for the poor browns."- Winston Churchill
“Painting from nature is not copying the object; it is realizing one’s sensations.”- Paul Cezanne
I consider myself primarily a landscape painter. As an artist I can't improve on nature, but I can capture some of the glory so that viewers can be reminded of the wonderful world around us. I am both a plein air pinter and a studio painter - never could make up my mind. Painting outdoors (plein air) with all your senses tuned in to your surroundings is inspiring. The sounds, the smells, the warmth of the sun on your back and yes, even the wind in your eyes, the insects biting is all a part of painting outdoors. The visual experience has no counterpart. All the colors, values and details are there for the artist to pick and choose from. I have a tendency to loosen up, to paint from my emotions. Studio painting is much more calculated. With all the comforts like music, hot tea, climate control and a bathroom available, I have time to plan and be more creative. I am no longer copying what I see. I am creating a painting by using colors and values that weren't necessarily in the original scene. I can I push them to the limit. I love both processes equally and will continue to paint both ways.
My other conflict is which medium to use. I love the process of oil painting. Oils have a nice buttery feel to them. It can be almost like sculpting. I can see a particular color in my mind's eye and using only the six colors on my palette I can mix any color I want. In contrast I probably have between four and five hundred pastel sticks. Mixing colors is a bit more tricky, but the colors are the richest of all the mediums and I love their strength. As Wolf Kahn said, "Pastels are the dust on butterfly wings".
So if asked to explain myself, I am a studio/plein air painter who works equally in oils and pastels. Maybe I will decide who I am when I grow up.
Andrea Way
