Featured Artist of the Month : Alisa Shea Jun. 2015 | TheArtList - Art & Photo Calls for Visual Artists and Photographers.

Alisa Shea

Northport, NY

Alisa Shea was born in 1974 in Normal (yes, Normal), Illinois. Despite a clear passion and aptitude for fine art, Ms. Shea was persuaded to forego an art education in favor of more practical pursuits. In 2013—two decades, two degrees, and several unrelated jobs later—she decided she could no longer defer her artistic goals, and left an established career in health outcomes research in order to pursue painting full time. Ms. Shea currently works in watercolor exclusively. She lives and works in Northport, New York with her husband and two sons.

How and when did you start creating art?

I’ve been creating art for as long as I can remember. In my baby book, there is a carefully drawn still life of apples and bananas nestled in (OK, floating on top of) a woven basket, rendered in crayon at around age three. As an elementary student, I obsessively entered my drawings in weekly newspaper contests and took every summer art program that my small, central Illinois town could offer. I exhausted the few art electives available at my public high school, attended summer art school at the local university, received the senior art award, and prepared my portfolio for review at several nearby colleges for admission into their Fine Art programs… and then my parents got cold feet. Even my high school guidance counselor agreed that going to college for fine art was a poor choice.

As a result, I was persuaded to pursue a more “practical” route and obtained a degree in occupational therapy. Not surprisingly, this didn’t suit me very well. I completed a graduate degree in public health and went on to work in various healthcare data and research roles, but I never really loved any of it, and I could never escape the nagging feeling that I was ignoring the one thing I really did love.

Finally, in 2013, on the cusp of turning 40, I worked up enough nerve to quit my day job in order to begin focusing on my own creative development again. I discovered Instagram and realized that I could use my iPhone to capture the little square-shaped frames of everyday eye candy that I had always created in my head, but now in a more concrete way. Instagram became my virtual sketchbook; and over time, my growing feed became a catalogue of my creative point of view. This new outlet gave me a surprising amount of creative fulfillment and I was inspired to do more, so I enrolled in classes. Specifically, I signed up for watercolor classes, almost entirely because watercolor scared me. But Instagram had given me such creative confidence that now all I wanted to do was conquer it, so I signed up for “Watercolor Kindergarten” at my local art league and the rest is history.

What media and genres do you work in?

Since 2013, I have worked in watercolor exclusively. I am completely smitten with the medium. While I have tried many times to loosen up my style, I continue to have a strong preference for photorealism and detail-driven representational art.

Who or what are your influences?

I have been enamored of Chuck Close since I was a teenager, and of course Ralph Goings. Contemporary watercolorists whose work I particularly admire include Denny Bond, Chris Krupinski, Laurin McCracken, and Soon Warren, just to name a few.

What was your inspiration for The Missing Piece?

The Missing Piece was created based on photographic references that I shot at my local library. Upstairs, adjacent to the art section, there sits a collection of 3D skyscraper jigsaw puzzles. I had seen the puzzles there countless times, but it wasn’t until one of the buildings was turned just so that I noticed the single missing piece on one of the buildings and its resultant black hole. That black hole became the focal point for the composition I was developing in my head, and I started taking photos immediately.

Describe your creative process?

Piggybacking on my Instagram addiction, I paint from my own photographic reference material. I never stage a photo and never travel in order to find the perfect shot. Instead, I seek to find the awesomeness in the mundane, to capture snippets of color and detail that might otherwise go unnoticed as I go about my everyday life. I typically pick my subjects based on perceived level of difficulty; if it's a subject or detail that I’m not sure I can successfully reproduce in watercolor, then that's the one I want to paint next. While I would love to be able to produce work more quickly, I am a meticulous painter and generally require anywhere from one- to three months to finish a piece, depending on size.

What are you working on currently?

I am currently between pieces but plan to stretch and prepare two new full sheets this week!

What are your near/long term goals as an artist?

I recently completed my first full sheet painting; my personal goal is to continue painting on this scale as much as possible. Professionally, I would like to continue showing my work regionally and to broaden my geographic reach over time. Ultimately, I would love to achieve membership in one or more of the national watercolor societies. From a business perspective, as a new artist I am still very much in the “start-up” phase. While I am fortunate enough to have another income in the family that affords me this opportunity, my long-term goal is to be able to support myself via my work.

Where can people view/purchase your work (gallery, website, etc)?

My watercolor can be seen at www.alisashea.com. Inquiries about the sale of original works can be sent to me through that website. I sell reproduction prints, as well as some of my iPhone photography, on Etsy at www.asheadesignlab.etsy.com.