Sarah Graham came to us LIVE from the USA on Friday, September 16th to share her favorite techniques and color palette.
Here’s a quick Q&A with Sarah:
¿Por qué haces arte?
I make art primarily for two purposes – first, because it’s like diet and exercise. It’s just one of those things that I need to be a healthy and whole person, and that fills me up in ways that help me give back to my family and those around me. Second, because art is a language, and I use this visual language to remind myself of the deeper life lessons I’m learning and to share that wealth with others who also find life from visual languages.
¿Cuánto tiempo llevas pintando?
I’ve been painting and drawing almost since before I can remember. My mom introduced me to watercolors in grade school, and the rest is history.
¿Recibiste formación artística formal?
I don’t have formal training in the watercolor media, but I do have an art degree. I attribute the integrity of my watercolor work to the language and principles of art that my professors taught me in school.
¿Eres artista profesional o aficionado?
I am a working artist represented by a local gallery, but I would need to paint with or without a professional label or motivation.
¿Qué te inspira?
I am always painting with my eyes – studying shadows and colors and the way their shapes work together to make forms and atmospheres. Right now, I love to study shadows and the concept of nooks of rest and refuge that they create. I also simply find inspiration in the personality of the watercolor medium. It’s wild and un-tameable in many ways like life is, but with the right set of eyes and the willingness to work with it, you can take a hot mess and bring order and life to it. I love that.
¿Qué tipo de música escuchas mientras pintas?
I don’t often listen to music while painting. Since music is another art form and language in and of itself, I can find it distracting.
¿Has tenido algún mentor?
No, I haven’t ever had a formal mentor, but I had very good counsel from my professors in college that I still refer to, and I love to watch other artists whom I admire, living and historical.
¿Pintas todos los días?
No, not in this season with young children. I paint once or twice a week right now, but I expect to gradually work into more studio time as my family grows into new seasons.
¿Pintas una pieza a la vez o trabajas en varias simultáneamente?
I never used to work on multiple pieces at once, but I do find myself doing that more often lately because it allows me to make the most efficient use of small blocks of time.
¿Primero creas un boceto conceptual?
Sometimes I do. It just depends on how complicated the piece is and if I need to think through my values or have an accurate rendering first. I do a lot of “thinking” in my sketchbooks.
¿Prefieres pintar en estudio o al aire libre?
I definitely prefer the studio. It is much more practical for me too, because a lot of my work happens when children are sleeping and I can steal away without leaving the house.
¿Cuántos colores básicos utilizas?
I mostly stick to a couple versions of each primary. Not more than a handful of colors. I find too many colors just confuses me, and you can do just about anything with a few primaries that you know well.
¿Tubos, sartenes o palitos?
I prefer tubes, but I have a small pan set that I keep in a pencil case with some travel brushes, and I will use that for sketching away from my studio.
¿Cómo se sabe cuándo una obra está terminada?
I don’t know if I can give a step by step answer for this one because for me, I just have to feel that it’s right. I try to balance a certain standard I want to achieve with an understanding that not every piece will be a masterpiece and none will be perfect. It is important to be willing to move on to new paintings, because the more I paint, the better painter I become. It’s better for me to continue to paint at a reasonable quality and at the end of the year to have learned enough to be a better painter, than it is to have produced one masterpiece and learned very little.
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Únete a nosotros en línea cada semana para una conversación cercana y personal con John Cogley, CEO y propietario de Daniel Smith, y artistas invitados de todo el mundo. Los jueves (14:00, hora del Pacífico), John destaca las características de nuestros productos y responde a tus preguntas. Los viernes (10:30, hora del Pacífico), un artista invitado comparte cómo incorpora esas características en su obra. haga clic aquí para los enlaces de Zoom de la próxima semana.
Consulte nuestra página de Facebook para obtener noticias sobre los próximos artistas invitados o para ver repeticiones anteriores. Cada reunión de Zoom también se graba y se comparte en nuestro Canal de YouTube. La traducción al español está disponible – selecciona el canal en español en Zoom.
