DPW Spotlight Interview: Gilles Poulizac

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

To enter to win Gilles' painting, "Wood Boat" go to Daily Paintworks and click on the link at the top of the page announcing their interview.

Special note: This interview has been translated from French.

From Gilles' DPW Gallery:

A French painter born in 1970, I am a graduate of Fine Arts in 1999. I live and teach painting at Vannes in Brittany. I teach concepts of values, composition, light being important to make a "good painting" but it must also expresses spontaneity. I simplify the forms for an optimal atmosphere; "suggestion rather than detailing." (click to view gallery)

Tell us a bit about how you first started painting.

I started painting in a place called Saint Maur in Paris. I was a teenager and passionate about painting.

Wood Boat
(click to view)

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

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

Once I caught the virus, I never stopped painting.

What mediums and genres have you experimented with? Which ones have "stuck"and which ones have fallen away?

I started by drawing a lot! My Fine Arts education emphasized the practice of drawing. I tried acrylic and collage but found that the mediums most suitable for me are watercolors and oil. I prefer oil for its "passages", its cast, its impasto. Watercolor allows me to work easily.

La Mobe Bleue
(click to view)

Right now, I practice mostly watercolor. I try to work in the studio, to translate the themes I usually find with oil. I watch a lot watercolor artists who are on the front stage (Joseph Zbukvic, David Taylor, Jhon Vardley, etc.) They are very inspiring.

Village
(click to view)

Who or what inspires you most?

In fact, I'm a real sponge. Many painters inspire me and influence in my work. My favorite has long been Edward Hopper. I also look up enormously to impressionist painters, Edgar Degas, Wislow Homer, and John Sargent.

À la Cuisine
(click to view)

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

I like to approach painting full of different themes to avoid monotony.

How do you generally arrive at ideas for your paintings?

Light especially will trigger the subject, object or landscape work.

Fauteuil
(click to view)

What makes you happiest about your art?

It is the intoxicating side! I listen to music while painting in my studio. When everything works, it seethes, I cast off and I paint without difficulties, it's almost like an innate gesture.

Thanks, Gilles!

© 2016 Sophie Marine