Artist of the Month December 2007

Maxine Graham Price

Wimberley, TX

How and when did you start creating art?

The first thing I remember was in kindergarten. I drew a face and the teacher put it on the bulletin board and commented to the class about it. I have always drawn and I don't remember ever wanting to be anything other than an artist. I majored in art in college.

What media and genres do you work in?

I always thought I needed to try every medium. Consequentially, over the course of my career, I have worked with a lot of mediums including pencil, pastel, watercolor, acrylics, inks and collage as well as oils. About nine years ago I decided to work exclusively in oils and began experimenting with the palette knife. Now I work that way exclusively.

Who or what are your influences?

I think every artist must say that influnces come from the whole of their life experience, however here are a few of mine. Who: My work is certainly influenced from learning the basics from my college professors at the University of Texas at Austin, particularly drawing, design and composition. These elements of painting hold true whether I am painting a more representational subject or a totally abstract work. My late husband David Price, whom I met in art school, was a mentor to me. He taught me to strive for excellence and to never be satisfied with mediocrity. I have been influenced by the Abstract Expressionists. I am influenced by the work of Vincent Van Gogh for his passion and emotion. I admire the gestural rhythms of Jackson Pollock's dripped and poured work. I like the work of Helen Frankenthaler and Hans Hoffman. Up to 1991 my work was totally realistic. In 1992 I went on a quest for artistic growth and took a LOT of 5-day workshops. I wanted to loosen up my work and I wanted to develop a distinct style. Some teachers that I learned from include Maxine Masterfield, Ann Templeton and Mary Wilbanks. I learned something from all of them and then taught myself to use the palette knife. What: My work is influenced by nature, particularly the landscape of the Southwest. I also love rocks, old, buildings and rusted things.

"October Afternoon" is a painting from a scene I photographed this autumn near Telluride, Colorado, when the aspens were turning. It is of a river at the base of the mountain with the mountain in shadow, the light hitting behind the trees and wonderful reflections in the water. The dark shadow of the mountain made the lighting just spectacular. I tried to capture the colors and that special effect of light.

Describe your creative process?

I work in series so my approach differs depending on which series I am working on at the moment. Generally speaking, I start out with some idea of design and colors in mind. This could be as simple as a small pencil sketch of shapes for an abstract. It is difficult to work solely with the palette knife without doing some bit of preplanning although once the painting is begun there is a point where the painting takes over and leads me along. I often paint small paintings of 12" x12" that are the inspiration for larger format paintings from 24"x24" up to 6 feet by 6 feet. In school I was taught to do thumbnail sketches, and these smaller paintings serve as thumbnails but are also finished work. I also work a lot on the computer using my own digital photographs, which I manipulate and use for source material. The subject could be one of my own paintings-- which I might crop or simplify or manipulate into a different color scheme--or photographs of old walls or scenes from nature. I also use the computer during the process of a painting by photographing it and studying it on the computer. It lets me see the painting in a different way. I can tweak the color and contrast to see if that results in any improvement.

What are you working on currently?

I have five on-going series and I might work on more than one of them during any one-month period. The majority of my work is predominately abstract, and I had about decided to stop doing impressionistic landscapes until I went to Telluride this fall. There had been 5 inches of snow the week before I got there so there was snow on the mountains and the aspens were golden. The scenery was absolutely spectacular and I just had to try some of the scenes I photographed. I'm pretty much a studio painter so I try to rely on my memory of the time and place as well as my photographic record when I paint such a scene. "October Afternoon" is one of those Colorado scenes, and I have plans for more paintings from Colorado in my "Landscape Series." Other Series are "Abstract" (pure abstract expressionism), "Abstracted Landscapes," "What Remains" (based on old walls and dilapidated buildings) and "New Phase", which uses bold colors and skewed geometric designs. It all sounds very diverse but I want to limit myself only to the medium of oils and the use of palette knife and not limit ideas. I certainly never get bored and I have had no complaints from my galleries or my collectors.

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

My near-term goals for 2007 are to complete three commissions I am working on, get into a couple more out of state galleries and to increase my income by 20%. I plan to improve my web site and start a newsletter. My long-term goals are to gain more name recognition on a national/international level and to continue to stretch and grow as an artist.

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

My website is : http://www.maxineprice.com [b]My work is represented by the following fine art galleries which are listed on my website:[/b] Art Divas Gallery in Taos, New Mexico Art Incorporated Gallery in San Antonio, Texas Russell Collection in Austin, Texas Thornwood Galleries in Houston, Texas Bryant Gallery in Kingsville, Texas Miller Fine Art in Salado, Texas 1550 Gallery in Kerrville, Texas Gallery on the Square in Wimberley, Texas [b]My work is also represented by the following art consultant firms:[/b] Art Ability in Dallas, Texas Soho Myriad in Atlanta, Georgia Daniel Fine Art Services in Laguna Beach, California My work is also published by New Era Publishing in Austin, Texas