DPW Spotlight Interview: Cecilia Rosslee

Each week we will spotlight a different DPW artist who will give away one of their best paintings.

To enter to win Cecilia's painting, "Late Afternoon Roses" go to Daily Paintworks and click on the link at the top of the page announcing her interview.

From Cecilia's DPW Gallery page:

Cecilia Rosslee is originally from South Africa where she studied Fine Arts. She has for ten years been publishing her art work on a large range of stationery and has many clients across the world, including Sun International Hotels, Planet Hollywood and many private collectors.

Cecilia now lives in picturesque Carmel, CA with her husband and three wonderful kids, where she is inspired by the natural beauty of the Monterey area and all things French! Her work is inspired by the contrast of warm light against interesting shadows and she works in high quality oil paints on canvas.

Cecilia Rosslee's work reflects scenes from her immediate surroundings, whether it be special object d'art around her, figurative work or beautiful French inspired floral studies.

Tell us a bit about how you first started painting.

I think very soon after birth! My entire family is creative, and I just happened to be fortunate enough to have grown up with easels, canvases, sketch boards and pottery wheels around me! I thought the entire world could paint, until I went to school and realized I was the only little girl in class that knew how to paint a river like it really looked and everybody else's... well, let me not comment, but I remember being shocked at the thought that painting wasn't a natural ability for everybody.

Late Afternoon Roses
(click to see original image)

Enter to win by clicking on the link at the top of the home page announcing Cecilia's interview.

Did you have any stops and starts in your painting career?

As it later turned out, I realized that painting might have been the only talent I had! Therefore, I could not afford stops and starts in my painting career! I remember being pregnant, balancing on scaffolding planks, painting Tromp l'oeil images on ceilings for The Table Bay Hotel in Cape Town, South Africa, breast feeding my newborn baby onsite, while painting Planet Hollywood at the Waterfront, and I'm still painting everyday, picking my kids up from high school covered in oil paint.

What mediums and genres have you experimented with?

There is maybe not a thing I haven't tried! Water colors... too unpredictable; acrylics... too quick drying; murals... too labor intensive; landscapes... too bad for words; so I decided to stick to my beloved oils!

Dappled Light
(click to see original image)

Which ones have "stuck" and which ones have fallen away?

I guess, like everything else in life, everything works together at the end of the day, and so I have taken something away from everything I have ever set my hands to, and apply it to what I do today. I am so blessed that I have had the opportunity to experiment with different techniques, styles and paint mediums. Also, it helps to know what not to do, and when to stop painting!

Which ones are you looking forward to exploring?

In my opinion, oil painting is really a science as there are so many different colors to work with and so many millions of combinations to reach. I'm guessing it will take me the rest of my life on this earth to really get to know it all!

Orange Study
(click to see original image)

Who/what inspires you most?

For starters, I love looking at all the new DPW paintings that come up everyday; what a wonderful inspiration to see what all the other artists are up to! But mainly, Ovanes Berberian, Sorolla and Sargent are my ALL TIME FAVES!

What does procrastination look like for you?

Balancing my elbows on the back of my garden chair so as not to shake the camera too much while it's on the longest shutter speed because there are only two more rays of light in the day to capture my daily painting for that night's posting!

French Chair
(click to see original image)

What techniques work to ensure that you make time for your art?

Getting dressed in my paint clothes: it kind of reroutes my ADD type personality back to the easel!

How do you generally arrive at ideas for your paintings?

From pealing potatoes at the kitchen window and catching a glimpse of sunlight through a glass vase in the window sill to going through an old American Artist magazine before falling asleep at night... I guess I find it all around me all day long. When I am having a conversation with someone, I often find myself observing their skin tone, thinking of what colors I would mix to paint their face!

Roostafel
(click to see original image)

How do you keep art "fresh?" What techniques have helped you avoid burnout and keep your work vibrant and engaging?

Going back in time and referring to the old masters is what does it for me.

What do you feel you are learning about right now as an artist?

The different degrees of temperature in oil colors and how to juxta position it so as to increase the emotion I want to convey when a viewer looks at my art.

What makes you happiest about your art?

The fact that I am able to use my God given talent to earn money to support myself, my kids and be a blessing to others.

Thanks, Cecilia!

© 2013 Sophie Marine