DPW Spotlight Interview: Pamela Gorecki

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

Enter to Win Pamela's Giveaway

From Pamela's DPW Gallery Page: 

I live with my sweet husband and a tiny dachshund named Slone in Redondo Beach within the sound of the sea. 

I like to paint everything - but mainly I try and notice the simple world around me. I also garden and am happiest when covered in mud and paint.

If we were all painting the world would be a more joyful place!

On Etsy I am PaintWaterandPaper.  I want my art to be affordable and to share it. 

Roses and Dahlias
(click to view)

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

What did you want to be growing up?  

Various things, but I ended up as an Aerospace Engineer because I believed it offered a chance for lifelong learning and I would never be bored.  But I always thought that being an artist would be interesting. 
 
When did your artistic journey begin?  

Probably when I was small. We would often go to museums. I played the piano and sewed. I have always appreciated beauty. As an engineer I always worked on first-of-a-kind things. Without an appreciation for art, craftsmanship, and the craftspeople involved I couldn't have made it.  All the really special engineers I met and worked with were artists. I am also a very visual person - I have to make a diagram of something in order to understand it.  I became more serious about art when I became a hardcore black and white photographer - medium format, darkroom, fine art silver gelatin prints - the whole bit. I learned a tremendous amount about composition, tonal values, and the small things that make a 5% difference in a finished artwork.  
 

Companions in Isolate Mystery
(click to view)

Did you have any long periods without creative expression? 

Yes. I had some years of loss, just like everyone else in life and my Husband and I had retired from work.  How did you get back on the horse?  I had always wanted to paint in watercolor - so I enrolled in a local class.  The class was terrible but painting was wonderful.  I tracked down a teacher at another art center and started classes there and kept painting. I painted everyday for seven years, and have met some good friends along the way. 

Which mediums and genres do you gravitate toward? 

Mediums - translucent watercolor, collage, charcoal. Genres - Anything intimate or thoughtful. Which ones don’t appeal? Mediums - Anything generated on a computer. Genres - Photo-realism, painted from a photograph. I don't get that.

Four Feet Three Inches
(click to view)

What was the process like of pinpointing your personal style or finding your voice?  

I think this is always evolving. I know it is for me because I love to try new things. It is like being surrounded by all of the beauty at Yosemite and needing to take all the standard photographs before you can find the images that are uniquely yours. 

Name an artist (or artists), well-known or not, who you admire. Why?  

I admire Charles Reid and Shirley Trevena. In both of their work there is a high degree of spontaneity and joy that is natural to the medium of watercolor. I also love Sargent for his ability to capture light and Turner. I don't know that the world has caught up to Turner yet.

Estate Sale
(click to view)

If you could offer one piece of advice to your younger, creative self — what would that be? 

It would be to learn how to draw. I actually think everyone should know how to draw, just like everyone should know how to type. 
 
Do you utilize any habits or tricks for winning the distraction and procrastination battle?  

No, this is terrible. Sometimes I just try to do something simple like work on my Etsy store or my DPW gallery; and clean my office. Or, do a pencil sketch of a drawing idea I have. 

Double Delight Roses
(click to view)

 In moments of self-doubt or adversity, how do you push forward? 

I once heard a TV chef say about pie crust that it is just a small amount of money involved in making pie crust. In other words, get over the fear of ruining the pie crust. So I tell myself that. It is just a piece of paper, and you can use the other side if you have to. 

What are some of your long and short term goals for yourself or your art? 

I want my paintings to keep getting freer/looser and maybe have some more quiet space in them.  Longer term I want to get better at painting outdoors. I would enjoy painting at Plein air conventions - primarily to enjoy nature and camaraderie with fellow artists.

Purple Irises
(click to view)

What does success mean to you personally?  

I believe I have genuinely touched the lives of a few people through my paintings - customers on Etsy. And, I have made enough money to pay for my paint and paper and brushes. I have over 300 paintings in peoples homes, adding a little bit of beauty.  That is enough.
 
What is one of your proudest moments in your creative life?  

I was in an art store and there were a lot of artsy people in the store, and I realized that I was an Artist, with a capital A. It is something you can't buy. 

Chicago Alley
(click to view)

Thanks, Pamela!

© 2022 Maddie Marine

DPW Spotlight Interview: Sandy Haynes

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

Enter to Win Sandy's Giveaway

From Sandy's DPW Gallery Page: 

I have been involved with art in one form or another since I was a small child. I always have loved to create, and this lead me into teaching art as a career.

 After retiring from 25 years of high school teaching I have explored many types of painting. Oil has been my favorite, but I also really enjoy acrylic, printmaking, collage, and occasionally watercolor. I painted a series of 75 oil portraits of my students as a farewell to the classroom.  
    

My work in 2020 is mainly Plein air and florals, as well as large and small abstract studies. It is all a joy.  I am selling online as well as in galleries with my new website:
www.sandyhaynesfineart.com

Bluest Skies
(click to view)

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

What did you want to be growing up?  

 

I wanted to be an artist, like my mother, while growing up. Our home was where creativity took place, was accepted, encouraged and rewarded. It was a home where art supplies were readily available, as well as supplies to sew. 

When did your artistic journey begin?  

 

I started drawing at a young age. I don’t remember a time when I wasn’t creating. It was always a natural thing to do. I loved art in school and really enjoyed the high school art program, although it was fairly limited. I proceeded to get a BS in Art Education and then a Masters of Art in Teaching, and loved the studio classes.

Gwendolyn’s garden
(click to view)

Did you have any long periods without creative expression? How did you get back on the horse?

I am pretty extroverted, and I thoroughly loved the teaching part of my job, getting to know all the wonderful high school students, and encouraging them to love art. I looked at that as my mission. I didn’t have so much time to create my own work, except as demos and examples, but it was so much fun being able to pretty much have free rein to create projects that I found fun and exciting. I taught the Drawing I and II classes, as well as the Art Foundations, plus semester classes of Printmaking and Applied Design (pretty 3-dimensional). I taught the basic Elements and Principles of Art and found lots of ways to implement those lessons with projects. Even when I was raising my children I was able to create in summers and off times work of my own. I put out a print edition of 500 of my montage of Monterey Bay while we lived a year in California, and also created projects and stained glass window designs for a restaurant design firm. I used to take part in outdoor art shows and sell my work, creating paintings on t-shirts, totes, etc., from my artwork. Those times were hectic, but fun too

Which mediums and genres do you gravitate toward? Which ones don’t appeal?

I’ve always loved drawing in pencil, and colored pencil, painting-all types, collage, book making, printmaking, and mixed media. I love rendering subjects from life, but I really enjoy making joyful abstracts too. I had to teach a unit in ceramics, which I much appreciate the talent in others, but I have never thought of myself as much of a potter. I haven’t done much 3-D stuff, but I do love it . The most fun thing I taught in ceramics was the clay whistles that my students created. They were fun to make and teach and the kids loved them.

Loutrece
(click to view)

What was the process like of pinpointing your personal style or finding your voice?  

I finished my teaching career with a project that just kind of “happened”. It started with a project at our school which spotlighted our diverse student population. By the time I quit teaching, our school had 17% Bosnian population, which was one of our strengths. The goal I set for myself was to create 100 portraits of my students in oil, 12" x 12”, but I really had never done oils before, except ONE I did in college. I figured out how to paint them by reading info from Chris Saper and others in books I acquired. (Internet info was just kind of getting started). I took pictures of my students, did a grid of them on the canvas in pencil, then I completed a monochromatic underpainting in Terre verde green (Chris Saper) I let it dry a couple of days, then added the color- in oil. I actually got likenesses… I surprised myself ! I didn’t reach 100, I got 76 of them finished and had a one-man show in a venue in Webster Groves, close to where I grew up. From that point on I was HOOKED on oil painting.

Name an artist (or artists), well-known or not, who you admire. Why?  

After retirement, I started daily painting and followed Duane Keiser on the internet, and painting still lifes. I took Carol’s (Carol Marine, of course) workshop in Fish Creek in 2011 and the rest is History ! Love, love, love, all the things I learned from her, and later from Shelby Keefe at her workshop in Ohio in 2015. I watch Bob Burridge’s “Bob Blasts” and love his energy and enthusiasm. He is so generous with his knowledge. I follow lots of great painters on Instagram, Marc Hanson, Scott Christensen, printmaker Jenny McCabe.

Ian Roberts has taught me so much about composition, as well as the teachings of Edgar Payne, and Richard Schmid and John Carlson, and contemporary painter Colley Whisson. I think you need to gather information from seeing the work of other artists, but ultimately you just need to stop taking in new information and START CREATING from your own knowledge and instincts.

Savor the Magic
(click to view)

If you could offer one piece of advice to your younger, creative self — what would that be?  

My advice to my younger creative self is the same one I tried to relay to my students. “ENJOY THE ENTIRE PROCESS”. It is fun to show and sell your work, but if you stop enjoying the process that becomes kind of like work instead of pleasure. It is ALL fun, even cleaning your brushes and experimenting with a new medium, or getting out of your comfort zone by standing in front of others and demonstrating your technique. 

 

Do you utilize any habits or tricks for winning the distraction and procrastination battle?  

The best way to avoid procrastination and distraction is to develop self-discipline in your work. It seems counterproductive for creative people I guess, since creatives do a lot of free association, but discipline will get you to the easel, and that is what you need to do. Some of the most successful artists I know started out as commercial artists and graphic designers, who had a job where they were paid to create every day from 9 to 5 and they would sit and do just that ! The good thing about working for yourself is that you give yourself the assignment… instead of someone else telling you what to create.

 

Light at the End
(click to view)

In moments of self-doubt or adversity, how do you push forward?

 We all have self doubt, and setbacks, and times when our work doesn’t seem exciting or good. It will get better just keep going, don’t ever give up. Keep enjoying the process and you’ll overcome those dips in your productivity. 

What are some of your long and short term goals for yourself or your art?

I am enamored when I see an artist with a big studio, producing huge paintings and having a big art opening in an exciting art community. I would love to be that artist someday.

Powder Valley Waterfall
(click to view)

What does success mean to you personally?  

Success to me is being able to look back at my life and career and feeling that I have shared some of my life experience with others. As an artist I love to show my work at galleries and art shows. I would like to have a big show in a large venue with a series of paintings that I’m proud of. 

 

What is one of your proudest moments in your creative life?

One of my proudest moments was when the local newspaper gave me a 2 full pages article of my work on the portraits I completed when I retired from teaching. It was so awesome to have my story and my paintings out there for all to read and see. An artist usually works in solitude so this was really special.

Portugal stroll
(click to view)

Thanks, Sandy!

© 2022 Maddie Marine