We Take the Hill

Joanne's Website    I had a recent conversation where a good friend seemed surprised when I said I would only paint from photos I had taken*. I added that it was very important to me that I had been there, had the experience and felt a strong emotional tug about the scene. So that led me to think that I bet many people who are NOT artists might think that artists choose what to paint by what sells, what's popular or hip in colors that are this year’s biggest hues. They might think artists simply scroll around the internet or magazines for images they like and then paint them exactly as they are presented. But you know what? That isn’t how most artists work. Most are compelled to paint what they paint. They might start with pulses of images or ideas that flash through their heads right before sleep. Then perhaps they sketch it around a bit or set up a photo-shoot or still-life. Some paintings are spurred by photographs like this one of women heading to work at a hotel at a tourist town in Mexico. Certain strong images are sort of burned into your head- whether you get them by sketches or photographs. And when they don’t go away, you work it into a painting. A painting is as much about the artist as it is about the subject matter—and if you can see that in the painting, then it’s a keeper. "We Take the Hill", 18x24" oil on cradled hardboard by Joanne Shellan


Exceptions being commission work