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The Painting: The scene depicted in “Together We Rise” first caught my eye during the Women’s March because of the sign citing the poem by Maya Angelou, which has been a favorite since my youth.   Spending 500+ hours over 9 months painting this scene brought an even deeper connection to the scene.  I found myself captivated by the interaction of each individual portrait with the collective experience of the group and the painting as a whole.  Indirect painting methods allowed for a meaningful process of building up the nuanced layers of each person, their mixed emotions, and the almost mystical experience we shared that day.  Coincidentally, I completed the painting the weekend of October 27-28, while listening to the live streaming of speeches at the Women's March Convention.  It was so moving to reflect on the powerful messages of the Convention and the March itself just as I was laying on the final brush strokes in the painting.  

The Mystery:  After so many months of painting, connecting with the real people behind the portraits and hearing about their memories of the March would be quite meaningful.  As such, help searching for the “muses” would be very welcome!  Please message me if you recognize any of the main characters in “Together We Rise” – or if you can help identify the creator of the sign “But Still Like Dust We Rise, who was wearing a green jacket, but remained elusively hidden in the hundreds of photos I took that day.   Positive ID with verified photos from the March will get them a free Fine Art Print of the painting, digitally reproduced by the amazing professionals at Old Town Editions in Alexandria, Virginia! 

And the First Showing:  Please come see the first showing of the final painting “Together We Rise” in person in Studio 8 at Artists & Makers Studios for our monthly “First Friday” exhibits on December 1, from 6-9 pm at 11810 Parklawn Drive, Rockville MD 20852.   Bring your own “March Stories” to share – or just come enjoy the art! 

I started oil painting 5 years ago. I vividly remember my first class with Glen Kessler: what to bring, how to set up the palette, how to wash the brushes.  Most of all, I remember Glen teaching me to look for shapes, forms, and colors.   As someone who speaks several languages, this felt like learning the first vocabulary words in another language.  Untitled Mountain Scene is the first oil painting I made in that class.  I’m still proud of it because it was the first step on my learning journey.

Untitled Mountain Scene (First Oil Painting, 12x16)

Workshops with artists such as Cindy Procious, Duane Keiser, Alyssa Monks, and Steven Assael have also been influential.  With each workshop, there is always something to hold onto and take forward - probably reflective not only of the master painter, but also of the student’s own learning journey. Box of Duck Donuts embraces the expressive “premier coup” approach that I learned about in Duane's workshops.  The Old Masters glazing techniques covered in workshops with both Glen and Cindy continue to resonate: I'm fascinated with the process of building up layers of nuances, luminosity, and depth. Perfect Harmony is just one example of glazing techniques in my paintings.   

Box of Duck Donuts (Oil on Panel, 8x10)

Perfect Harmony? (Oil on Linen Panel, 8x10)

The broader art community has also been a source of learning, both in person and online.  The 130+ resident artists at Artists & Makers Studios constantly bring inspiration.  Connecting with artists online – via Fine Arts Studios Online (FASO) and Facebook – brings daily joy and inspiration to my inbox. I’m thoroughly addicted to listening to Antrese Wood’s interviews with artists on the Savvy Painter Podcast. Participating in the #NowBeHere Project at the National Museum for Women in the Arts brought many new connections with women and women-identifying artists from all over the DMV area.  (See Links Page to connect to these sites)

A common element unifies these artists: continuous pursuit of learning.  Yet what does this learning process entail?  In my experience, learning to paint involves at least three phases:

• Painting what you see.  The first phase involves “learning to see” and then painting what you see.   It’s not a mountain or a field of flowers, but a compilation of shapes, forms and colors.  It’s like learning words in another language – and the endless pursuit of expanded vocabulary.

• Painting what you know.  The second phase involves gaining knowledge so as to make informed decisions with each brushstroke: composition, values, edges, color theory, anatomy, relativity. It’s like learning grammar in another language, – stringing words together in structured sentences.

• Understanding what you paint.  The third phase goes even deeper.  Understanding what you paint involves empathy, connecting with the subjects, and communicating with the viewer.   In the language analogy, it’s like learning to understand the meta-messages of what’s being spoken – or what goes unsaid.  It’s being able to recognize the subtle nuances of intonation, expressions, body language, and context.   Spending the past nine months (and over 500 hours) on my painting of the Women’s March created a deep connection with each of the 50+ characters in the scene.  What was the journey that brought each of them to the March?  What were they feeling, and how can I capture the portraits of their layered emotions on that day?   How do each of these individuals interact with the universal experience of the “whole” and how can I capture that collective movement on the canvas?  Detail from "Together We Rise" illustrates just a few of the individual “portraits of empathy” that I tried to capture that from meaningful day.

Honey Lemon T (Oil on Linen Panel, 12x12)

These learning phases are continuous, not consecutive.  Learning to paint involves an endless curiosity for learning to see, acquiring knowledge, and understanding the subjects and the scene.  Every painting brings as much learning as the first, the last, and the next. That’s why I’m just as proud of my first oil painting (Untitled Mountain Scene) as I am of Honey Lemon T, which was just awarded Third Place in The Artist’s Magazine’s Student Competition.  Because learning to see, know, and understand is an endless journey. 

Honey Lemon T - featured in The Artist's Magazine, December 2017