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Linda St Clair
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About Linda St Clair “Most days I’m out in an old pickup on the back roads taking pictures, looking and trying to scout out new places where I’ve found some pigs or roosters,” says Colorado artist Linda St Clair. The result is a slew of animal paintings like few you have seen before. St Clair, who began painting full time after 10 years as an artist’s rep, spends her days observing the animals that inspire her paintings. Mostly domesticated animals - cows, chickens, pigs, and most recently horses - find their way into her snapshots and onto her canvas. “When I was 18, I couldn’t wait to get away from that farm,” says St Clair. “I lived in the city for many years, but when I started painting, this is the kind of thing that started emerging.” Despite her initial frustration with her subject matter, St Clair decided not to resist her inspiration. Now she wouldn’t have it any other way. “I want people who look at my work to really see the animals. They all have such distinct personalities, and I don’t think you notice that if you just glance at them as you pass on the road.” For St Clair, who lives in a rural area of Colorado, finding subject matter isn’t a challenge. During her excursions to local farms, the animals usually come right up to her. “If you get out of the car they’ll actually come over to the fence,” St Clair says. Working alla prima, St Clair works quickly on all her pieces, finishing the major work in three to four hours. “Usually I’ll try to put in my darkest dark and my lightest light and that will give me a range of values to work within. Then I work over the entire canvas and try not to get caught up in one little area I want to keep loose.” After her first session with a piece, St Clair sets it aside and then for the next week she’ll go back to refine and soften the edges. “I don’t like to rework major parts of my paintings. One of the things that I feel is a strength in my work is the looseness and the spontaneous feeling, so I don’t want to jeopardize that.” To capture the essence of the animals in her paintings, St Clair uses little detail in the background. “It depends on what I’m doing, but at least half the time, I paint animals close-up,” she says. “It’s more about the animal than the background. I want people to notice that the animals have characteristics very reminiscent of people. If you watch a mare with her foal, she’s very protective. If you see a rooster that’s really strutting, he’s very cocky and flamboyant.” Painting six hours a day, St Clair spends the time she’s not painting out studying her subjects or sifting through her ever-growing collection of photographs. And whether she’s sketching or photographing animals on a roadside, standing in front of an easel or poring over piles of pictures, St Clair is more than happy to devote time to her art. |
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