Studio Tour – Pat Rusnell

September 6th, 2009

INTERVIEW 4

Q1.What does being and artist mean to you?
A1. Being an artist means feeling more alive by intensely noticing living forms around me. It means looking at them objectively and studying their colour, shadow, shape, line, and dimension. It means connecting to them emotionally and imagining how they smell and feel. I can get lost in figuring out how to translate all of that in another medium.

Q2.Do you remember your first drawing/painting?
A2. I took an oil painting course (there were no acrylics then) in high school but became truly hooked on the medium when I saw a painted stone cat in an Art Museum in Peterborough, Ontario when I was about 20. I thought, “I can do that” and I did – a life-size tabby cat. It was sufficiently life-like to fool other cats who would hiss and arch their backs when they saw it, and stiff-leg over to sniff it. I no longer have that rock. It was stolen. I had to leave it beside the elevator with a pile of my stuff while I took another pile out to my car when moving apartments. It was not there when I got back minutes later to get the rest of my stuff. A backhanded compliment of sorts. I only hope the person stole it gave it a good home and has it still.

Q3.Can you tell us your favorite artist(s)? Can tell us why? Did one or many of these artists influence your style? In what way?
A3.I study Robert Bateman because he paints animals, although my style is completely different. I also study all the great masters to decipher their use of light.

Q4.Can you share your creative process with us? Eg: How do you a start painting? Do you plan your projects?
A4.I ‘interview’ a lot of rocks. Only those with the right shape, size and surface come home with me. Perhaps I am like the Inuit who work with rock to reveal the animal within rather than turning the rock into their concept of what it could be. I have done some commissions but I still have to find the right rock.

Q5. How long have you been an artist?
A5. I began painting in earnest in my 20’s but then life got busy and there was less time. Although I have been back at it for about 10 years, I have been able to spend more focused time in the 5 years since I retired.

Q6.What is your favorite subject to paint?
A6.My favourite subjects are animals, birds, and flowers. More recently I have painted flowers and leaves onto rocks, sometimes adding homemade paper to the rock. I am currently exploring the use of paper to replicate barnacles, shells and moss on rocks.

Q7. Which colours you prefer to use? What is your palette?
A7.I use almost all colours but rarely in their pastel version.

Q8.Who would you call your teacher?
A8. I have taken courses in several media but am largely self-taught. I am grateful for the books by Lyn Welford which got me started again after many years away from rock painting but have gone far beyond her work, painting a greater variety of life forms and working more with shadow and light to create art, rather than craft.

Q9.What is your medium? Why? Do you like to try different mediums or you are more conservative person?
A.9 My basic media are rock, gesso and acrylic. I am probably more conservative but have started to use more media on the rock to produce greater translucency and texture. So I have experimented with the gels, most specifically with Tar Gel, and with molding paste. Recently I learned how to make paper and apply that to the rock directly, as well as creating shapes with it to apply to the rock.

Q10.How do you see your future as an artist? What is your dream?
A10.I paint mainly for myself, although it is always nice to sell something, if only to create more shelf space for the rocks I continue to transform. So my dream is to continue to be excited about and engaged in life and to improve my processes so that my finished product becomes more and more artistic and less ‘crafty’.

Pansies on rock by Pat Rusnell