Carolee Clark, interviewed by Jessica Watson

Featured Artist of the Month: Oregon Crafted Artist Carolee Clark answers questions from new Oregon Crafted staffer Jessica Watson

Where are you from? What is your background?
I was born in a very scenic part of British Columbia. My mother was a hobby artist and my father owned an auto parts store. Even though I grew up with crayons and pencils in my hand to keep me quiet, I was dissuaded from pursuing an artistic career. My sisters and I were encouraged to become professionals so we could earn a living. I floundered between trying to earn a business and economics degree to driving a cab, and finally owning an executive office complex.

All along the way I continued to draw, and enjoy the visual arts. My mother gave me a set of watercolors in my 20’s which re-opened the world of color for me. I bought my first painting for $1,000 when I was 27, on time, paying $100 each month, and realized that owning art is within everyone’s reach.

As I enjoyed that painting every day, it continued to spark my interest in painting. Every time I went into a gallery or art museum I came home enthused to recreate that feeling I had while viewing the paintings that I admired so much.

When I sold my business, I realized that I didn’t want to reinvest in another business to delay my desire to follow the things that make me happy. I want to enjoy life doing the things that I love. I decided that I would live more frugally, but focus on only the things that I love to do, with painting and drawing very high on that list.

Where do you live now?
I met my husband during a bike ride in British Columbia and he persuaded me that Oregon was a nice place to live so I moved here about 10 years ago. We live in Philomath. I am very lucky to now have a beautiful, calming and peaceful place where I spend my time painting and working. I look out my windows to see a small family farm with cows and sheep to the south, and I look west to see the hills and Marys Peak.

How have these elements affected you as an artist?
I have been exposed to art my entire life. I grew up with an artistic mother who encouraged drawing and coloring from a very early age. She had her paintings around the house, and enjoyed sharing the experience of creating artwork with her daughters. Both of my sisters are very creative.

I believe that everyone is very creative in different ways. It might manifest itself in cooking, gardening or creative thinking. I am a spatial, visual person and even my learning throughout school was influenced by this proclivity. The way that I view the world is spatial, noticing colors and patterns. We played a card game when I was young called “Concentration” where you lie the cards face down on the table and take turns trying to find pairs. I was very good at the game because I could remember the space or angle that the card was returned to on the table.

When did you first become interested in the arts? What mediums initially attracted you? What mediums do you work with now? Other materials or processes?
I started painting in watercolor, with supplies gifted to me by my mother. For many years it was my only medium, and I still have a soft spot for it. When I went to galleries, watercolor paintings were the only type of art that I liked. However, the more art I was exposed to, the greater my appreciation grew for all types of painting and artwork.

I began to love the vibrancy of pastels and for a brief time worked with soft pastels. I moved away from these because of their delicacy when it comes to framing, storing and shipping.

Ultimately, between my frustration with the cost and time needed to frame artwork, along with a gallery's persuasion to move away from artwork needing glass protection, I decided to work with acrylic on canvas.

Each medium has its benefits and drawbacks, but for now, I am very happy using acrylics.

How have you evolved as an artist?
Sometimes we cannot see our progress forward but it is occurring. I have often heard that the more that you know as an artist the more you realize how much you have to learn, to do and experience. This is so true. I have always been brave with my work and tried new things. Each of these steps has influenced where I am now and contributed in building a platform for the next step. I think that we all want to be a master quickly however it really does take a lifetime. That too is wonderful as we have the experiences that come with the effort, the joy, the good paintings and the flops.

What do you do if a work turns out differently than expected or you do not like how the piece is coming together?
Sometimes a piece doesn’t work because you cannot see the problem, or the solution. For me, the best way is to put the piece aside and come back to it with fresh eyes, or new knowledge. Sometimes this might be the next day, sometimes it might be several years.

I have also done an interesting project with a gifted artist and friend, Donna Beverly. We have each started a painting then swapped and continued working on the other’s painting. We continued doing this until we both deemed the painting was finished. It was a wonderful way to see solutions through another person’s eyes.

What are your inspirations?
I always start with drawing. I sketch every day, always carrying my sketchbook with me. I’ll draw people in cafes, airports, and restaurants, I’ll draw cars in parking lots or while I sit in a traffic jam. When I have my sketchbook with me, there is no wasted time, and always something to draw no matter where I am. Only recently have I started to take reference photographs, and even these I will sketch first, and then paint from my sketches.

With the sketch, I have already worked out what I liked about the scene, people or subject matter. I have worked out the composition and the value patterns. This simplifies the painting process as all I need to do is figure out the temperature and hues to use. I am free to play with the colors and figure out what excites me.

I have unending inspiration for paintings. Doing errands this morning I was walking down an alley and saw about five paintings that I wanted to do, and driving home I saw at least three. There is an unending amount of inspiration everywhere I turn.

Has being a member of Oregon Crafted helped you? How?
Absolutely. Because of the Oregon Crafted show with Opus 6ix, I was asked to be one of their artists and had a successful relationship with them for a couple of years. I have also taken some very good workshops helping me with the business side of selling my work.

What is your opinion of the current state of the arts?
This is an interesting question. Obviously there is not a lot of art education in public schools right now; however I really do find a lot to be praised. There are a lot of caring individuals and arts organizations that are trying very hard to bring visual arts, theatre, and music to children. For adults, when I moved here, I was amazed at the number of art classes available through the community colleges, private artists and other organizations. People are flocking to learn how to scrapbook, quilt, paint, play an instrument, and write. Many wonderful artists are willing to teach and it gives them another revenue stream. Oregon’s Percent for Art program has put art in public spaces and it is inspiring! Walking around Corvallis there is all sorts of sculpture that I love.

People love art, and many caring individuals are making a difference in getting it out there.

What are your plans for the future, either personally or as an artist?
One year ago I gave myself the "painting a day" project. The year is up and I painted 306 daily paintings. That is almost 6 per week!

One of the things I thought I would learn is how to paint more quickly, but this sadly didn't happen. I had the idea that I would whip up a small painting in an hour or two and have the rest of the day to work on larger and more complex pieces. Ha! What a fantasy.

That being said, I ordered 60 more small canvases to continue "daily paintings." I have scaled back to about four paintings a week so that I might have more time for larger works.

To see my progress of my daily paintings, go to my blog caroleeclark.workpress.com