DPW Spotlight Interview: Patricia Disantis

Each week we will spotlight a different DPW artist who will give away one of their best paintings. To enter to win Patricia's painting "View From A Yellow Submarine" go to Daily Paintworks and click on the link at the top of the page announcing their interview.

From Patricia's DPW Gallery Page:

Welcome to my gallery! I am a self taught artist. I have taken many classes with master painters and water marblers over the years. Some of you may know me from Shibumi Silks.

This gallery is devoted to abstract and impressionist art. I am influenced by a large variety of artists such as Matisse, Van Gogh, Klimt, Kandinsky, Pollack, Kusama, Shiraga, De Kooning and others.

I use a variety of acrylics, molding paste, wax, fabric, markers, etc. Many of my pieces are many layers of paint.

I often have a specific intention when creating a piece. So everything is very deliberate. Often I’ll sit with a finished piece for a few days or weeks and decide it needs something... it usually turns out being totally different! Often a picture seems to have a mind of its own... I’m just the holder of the tools... (click to read more)

Tell us a bit about how you first started painting.

I first started painting as a young women in my early twenties. I became very ill and was bedridden on and off for a number of years, painting and drawing was my therapy. About ten years ago, I learned water marbling, a rather obscure art form. I took lessons from a master water marbler. We do art shows all over the USA, that’s Shibumi Silks. A couple of years ago, in the slower winter months, I took a painting class.  Well! I’ve been obsessed ever since. The only starts and stops have to do with how busy we are with shows... that takes a lot of energy.

View From A Yellow Submarine
(click to view)

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

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

I’ve stuck with acrylics as we use those in marbling. I do play with additives and mediums and tools for mark making.

Kandinsky
(click to view)

Who or what inspires you most?

I have been inspired by a great variety of painters. Van Gogh and Monet of the impressionists. Jackson Pollack, Paul Klee, Kandinsky, Hans Hoffman and Willem De Kooning are stand outs in the abstract crowd. I’m lucky to live near the Yale Art Gallery so I can get my fill of these artists up close! The texture of some of these pieces has to be seen in person... the camera doesn’t capture it.

He said She said diptych
(click to view)

What does procrastination look like for you?

Procrastination boils down to ignoring what I don’t want to do. If the laundry is done or a least not out of control... then life is fine. Since I’d rather paint then do most anything else... that’s motivation to do the work. Painting is my reward for having gotten my work done... many times that’s spending four days out of town, driving, setting up, doing the show... driving home. Then there is the recovery day.  So when we’re really busy... painting is my longing.

Enthusiasm
(click to view)

How do you generally arrive at ideas for your paintings?

Ideas for paintings are numerous, from nature to looking at an old painting that I no longer like. I love the total redo. Every time I start a new piece I take something that I like from a previous work... then it evolves on its own. It’s a magical process of alchemy. It’s the ultimate in exploration. If I get into my painting studio... it’s a good day.

One of the interesting things about painting is the ugly stage. There comes a point in many pieces where I look at it and wonder how I made such a mess. Then I put it aside for a day, a week, a month...  out of that ugly stage has come the best pieces.

Nantucket
(click to view)

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

Art is always fresh by its very nature. Each piece is an individual, a new being with a life of its own. That’s what I love about painting. Ideas come. I don’t always know where they come from. I just have to show up in the studio.  

Spring in South Fallsburg
(click to view)

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

What I’m learning as an artist right now is to let things go when they’re not working. Inspiration comes but not on a timetable. Sometimes you just have to put a piece aside, wash your brushes and look at the one that is working! I always have a number of pieces going at the same time.

What makes you happiest about your art?

My art makes me feel free. The feeling of freedom is priceless.

Thanks, Patricia!

© 2020 Sophie Marine