What fun to share interview questions with other creative bloggers! Leslie Miller’s great blog Textures Shapes and Color had a wonderful interview, and I thought it would be interesting to participate.  Here are her questions to me and my answers.

1. Tell us about the name of your blog, “Art is Truth”. What is compelling about that statement for you?

I wanted my blog title to reflect my name, art, and a suggestion that art is more than pictures or sculptures or poetry or dance etc. My friend’s screen name was ‘artistkara’, and when creating a user name for an account I once noticed that ‘artistruth’ could be read either Artist Ruth or Art is Truth. I liked the double entendre, especially because it suggests that my art is my truth… that what I put on paper must ring true to me, whether it rings true to anyone else or not. I think that art comes from such a deep, personal place inside us, that it must be our truth, it is our creation, our own little world reflected.

2. When and how did you become interested in art?

My mother was an artist, and she encouraged my sisters and I to paint early on. Our tempera paintings were pasted on the walls of the utility/sewing room with wallpaper glue. She let us experiment with oil paints, flower arranging, decorating, sewing, cooking, drama… whatever creative pursuit we liked.

As an a teen I took a watercolor class in high school. My teacher was wonderful, giving us quality paints, paper & brushes, and lots of encouragement. I didn’t take up painting as an adult until after college. I had been teaching High School English full time and going to graduate school. My husband and infant daughter & I moved to a Portland suburb, and I found myself without adult contact or intellectual stimulation. I signed up for a community education watercolor class with a wonderful woman, Linda Rothchild Ollis. I was immediately hooked! I loved seeing the immediate results of my work and the challenges.

3. Where do your ideas come from? Please tell us about your creative process.

Sometimes an idea will come from a book, movie, magazine or newspaper article… just everyday facets of my life. Most times those ideas mesh with visual images… photos of family members or unknown people, and a concept for a painting emerges from that. Sometimes I work from life, sketching friends & family that are close to me, other times from photos, and sometimes from imagination. I like to play with shape & color to try to express ideas… I like my work to include symbolism… trees, birds, hats, etc… so each image grows out of the previous image.

I have recently started making value sketches to prepare for paintings… it can be a real time- saver. I find I can distill an idea and refine it more quickly by working in black & white first. But color is my true love. I like to use color intuitively, not realistically.

4. Please tell us about a historical or contemporary artist you admire? Why?

A contemporary artist that I admire (among the many many choices) would be Christo. I admire his ability to work on a grand scale… to engage the viewer’s imagination, and the symbolic qualities of his work as well as the sheer aesthetic beauty of it. I have seen his work in person, and the experience was so inspiring. I admire his ability to make us believe that more is possible than we could ever imagine. Although I work in a very traditional medium, I admire those whose work expands our ideas of what art is.

5. As a creative person, tell us about another aspect of your life besides painting where you also express your creativity.

I enjoy gardening, flower arranging, jewelry craft, knitting, rug hooking, piano, singing, writing, cooking and so many other things… I find it difficult sometimes to refrain from attempting every creative endeavor… Those that I admire are the creative people who have a single-minded focus.

Painting, for me, has so much depth that I could explore its possibilities forever. I feel it is enough for me, and I try to minimize my involvement in the other things to hobby status.

I hope you have discovered one or two things that you didn’t know about me 🙂 Thanks Leslie for the provocative questions! If you’d like to be interviewed on your blog, follow the instructions below:

1. Post a comment here to let me know you want to be interviewed.

2. I will respond by emailing you five questions. (I get to pick the questions).

3. You will update your blog with the answers to the questions.

4. You will include this explanation and an offer to interview someone else in the same post

5. When others comment asking to be interviewed, you will ask them five questions.