Interviewed by a young art lover...

Sometimes you have the opportunity to talk about your art with a younger person. Maybe they are inspired by something you have done and are curious. Possibly, with a little encouragement, they may one day become the next "big thing" in the art world. Or maybe they just need to get a paper done for their art class, and your name was the first to pop up on Google. You never know. But it is always nice to be able to lend someone a hand, whenever possible.

I recently received an email from a student at Mount Tabor High School, asking me some questions about my work and Fauvism.
Her questions made me take a moment and think about my process and then try to convey an idea of how I go about it. A useful exercise, because it makes you think about a lot of things you probably do instinctively. Here is my reply to her interview questions:

Dear Anna

Appreciate your interest and hope I can be of some help.
First, let me start off by saying artist create art, art critics create "isms". It may be a curse of Western culture that we love to categorize everything and put them in neat little boxes. It simplifies things but also is reductive and often inaccurate.

You may be aware already that Michelangelo, DaVinci and Titian never saw themselves as "Renaissance" .
Monet, Degas and Renoir never called themselves "impressionists", which was a derogatory term used by a contemptuous art critic.
The same negative attitude was responsible for the word "Fauvism", which comes from art critic Louis Vauxcelles. Vauxcelles was not impressed with the the 1905 Salon d'Automme which featured work by Henri Matisse, Andr� Derain, Charles Camion, and wrote "Donatello chez les fauves" (Donatello among the wild beasts), The term Fauvist derived from that.
It is amusing today that the artist to become the most famous of the group, Matisse, was the most universally derided.
Honestly, I just paint what I enjoy. Sometimes my style changes depending on my mood. My work has been described as contemporary, vivid, colourful and playful. Many call it Fauvist, others Pop art, graphic or often Native (refering to people like Norval Morriseau). What my work is called is up to the viewer and what they take from it, it is all good. I don't get hung up on "isms" just focus on creating.
Answers to your questions:
1) The first step I take when doing any painting is finding something that excites my interest. I love nature, animals and travel.
When I travel, I take a lot of photographs that I use to spark ideas when I get home and decide to start painting. What I look for is interesting lines, good contrast ( light and shadow). I'm never worried about colour because I create my own. Sometimes, though not always, I will do a pencil drawing on paper first. This is just to give me a chance to really "LOOK" at the subject and get an understanding. I love drawing and find it meditative and relaxing. Other times I just get right into it and start putting paint right on the canvas. I use acrylic paints which have the advantage of being opaque, drying fast and not smelling chemically. Acrylics also allow me to paint over my image if I don't like something and want to make changes. Changes can happen often, if I see something that doesn't work well or I get a better idea.
Many young artists are afraid to make mistakes and so take forever to get started. My advice is to dive into it, put paint down, just do it. Stuff happens, sometimes great, sometimes not. You then get to make decisions, improvements. What people call mistakes are often just learning opportunities. Just enjoy the action of applying paint and seeing how the colour relates to each other.
2) In order to prevent objects from becoming to patchy, I start to design with large shapes, flat colours and simple backgrounds, choosing colours that compliment each other and make each other pop. Usually, I pick a colour that is going to be dominant and takes up a larger area. After that I may come back and hit it with some more details and flashes of colour.
That being said, I have actually done a lot of paintings that were "patchy" using dabs of colour. Monet the greatest of the impressionist painters was the master of the patchy, random looking paint. If you ever have the opportunity to see one of his paintings up close you will be surprised at how patchy it looks. However, from a distance it comes together and shimmers. That is his genius.
3) I never plan out in any detail where the colours will go. Some artists, like Alex Colville, are meticulous planners. Personally, too much planning takes the fun out of it. Sometimes, I have a general idea of what the end result will look like. But if I am painting away and I start to like how some colours are interacting then I will follow that direction and explore where it will take me. That doesn't mean I am always happy with the end result, but it is not the end of the world. I can always start over or do another painting.
Often I take tubes of paint and slap blobs of colour down on the canvas and see where it takes me. It is a good creative excercise and helps you to come across different colour combinations. Try it!
4) Your use of colour depends on your goals. If you want to learn how to mix colours, start with the primary colours blue, red, yellow plus white. You can mix up any colour with these 4. Cobalt Blue, Cadmium red, Cadmium yellow work well together.
However, if you are interested in doing a fauvist style, you will notice they used a lot of different colours. Remember, paint sold in tubes was just invented at that time. Before that, artist spent a lot of time grinding pigments and mixing them with various oils. The painters at the turn of the century had the luxury of popping open a tube of paint. Find an artist with colours that appeal to you, then take a picture of their work and bring it with you when you shop for paint.
5) Fauvism uses bright colours, simplified detail and spontaneous brush strokes, a continuation of Impressionism really.
To get a good feel for it, first make a copy of a Matisse painting like "Woman with a Hat" or his "sel-portrait in a striped t-shirt".
That will give you an idea of the way he used colour, his brush strokes and simplicity. After you are done that, put the painting away, keep your same colour palette and without looking at his work create your own.
Hope that helps. Have Fun!!
Derrick