May and June , 2011
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Barbara Steinbgailstein@comcast.net As an artist and observer, I have been influenced by the work of other artists, my environment and social interaction. These are all part of my visual memory and language. My first awareness of art was in my childhood home. My parents had museum folios of Rembrandt, Renoir, and Utrillo. I remember looking at the paintings over and over. What were the stories behind them? Who were the people? What were their relationships and where were they going? As a girl, I began drawing to tell stories. Still, these are the questions I use to tell a story. I grew up in New York City, with its oversized buildings, bridges, and public spaces teeming with people. Yet, I noticed how individuals interacted in the space to create intimacy. The shape of buildings, urban space, and how people use and interact in public spaces are subjects that interest me. How does the time of day, the color of the light change the mood of a place? How does the weather, whether hot and sunny or blustery and gray, change the space and how people interact? How does it change body language? In my drawings and paintings I am setting the scene. The place, as in Bourbon and Orleans in the French Quarter, is so storied, that it stands in for the viewer’s memories and its myths and history. It is a character and scene simultaneously. Apart from the history and mythology of a place, are everyday people interacting: the tourists, musicians, shopkeepers, restaurant workers, students and lovers--- living their everyday lives. Residing in the Rocky Mountain west for more than thirty years, first in New Mexico and primarily in Colorado, I love the big sky and the quickly changing weather. In what has become a congested, noisy metro area, I often seek refuge at the Aurora Reservoir, with its vistas of mountain and plain. I find it restful and an opportunity to watch the weather and light change. I enjoy drawing and photographing this landscape—ice fisherman, cormorants, sea gulls, prairie grass, yucca plants, the lone kayaker. When capturing a landscape, street scene, a person, social interaction or a quick pose in life drawing, I prefer sketching and gestural drawing for its immediacy and energy. Drawing the human figure is most challenging. I am in awe of the beauty and shape of the dynamic human form. With materials such as water color crayon, ink or pastel, I am able to interact with the subject quickly, rather than intellectualize or over think it. Whether drawing from life, on location, or from one of my photographs, what I am trying to express is how I feel about what I see. Barbara Stein
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