Artist's Statements
Art is Essential
Beginnings
La Montagne Arts
Art is Essential!
Art Is Essential
Art embodies the energy of my days,
Painting focuses the way I see:
Cloud forms scallop the sky,
Tree shadows dance before my eyes.
I see paintings on my morning walk around the block
I see paintings at the café where I meet my friends to talk
Last week, Richard (my husband) and I drove the mountain road to Gilroy to purchase trees for our orchard. Just before reaching the entrance to the nursery, there was a field of golden mustard, a vineyard before leaf out, and the distant lavender hills. Complementary colors just waiting to be painted. I went back to the vineyard yesterday with a friend and made a small painting. |
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Art is Essential
Painting Directs Where I go:
Sunshine on sea cliffs, to paint all directions,
Stillness in the morning, I’ll paint the reflections.
I have been invited to teach a class in Northern New Mexico for a week in August. I made my first trip to Gavilan College to take paintings for an exhibition.
In the fall of 2005, I joined a group of painters in Southern France, returning with small paintings of the vineyards, markets and villages of the region.
Last week, I helped to hang an art show at the office of Karlene DahlmeierLaC , which will exhibit work of 11 artists about 44 paintings, depicting the Farmer’s markets…the growers, the customers and the star attractions: the fruit, flowers, and vegetables. A celebration of spring.
When I visit my children, they know
My easel and palette will be in tow
Portland in the rain or
San Diego in the Sun
I know I’ll have lots of fun.
An obsession they say, oh what harm can I do?
Some paint on my jeans
Maybe the car trunk too.
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Art is essential
Painting leads me to Who I talk to:
Painters, students, sculptors, and directors,
Planners, tinkers, traders, and collectors.
I had a telephone call last week. Would I like to speak and demonstrate my painting for a local high school art day? I need more speaking experience. I accepted…4, 20 minute talks! |
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Art is Essential
Painting orders what I talk about:
Exhibition next week, can you help with the framing?
Prep for my class on Saturday, composition and cleaning.
My table is covered in papers, and I need a desk clerk,
Oh husband, oh Husband, this computer won’t work!
Complements, perspective, values, and hues,
Intensity, chroma, don’t be confused.
Claude Monet, one of the great impressionist French,
said “color is my day long obsession, joy, and torment”.
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Art is Essential
Painting colors my dreams:
Cobalt and viridian for the sky
ultramarine and titanium for a sigh
magenta and cad orange for the earth,
When it comes to color, there is never a dirth.
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Art is Essential
Painting enlightens What I think:about:
Mix gray greens for the trees,
intensify the light,
soften the horizon,
then sign on the right.
Protect the land, that inspires the painter,
that grows our food, that feeds our souls,
That is the container.
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Art is essential.
Art is my life.
Art is the “brass tacks” that holds my life and tracks its direction.
Art is the basics, the nitty gritty,
It is my communication about my basics…
the scoop, the whole story, certainly my story.
Drawing and painting…hand and eye moving
To the visual perception, to the kinesthetic sensation,
Communicating between my world and yours.
Michele Hausman / March 2008 |
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Beginnings ...
| I am drawn to paint the natural landscape. Since I was a child, I enjoyed being out of doors. I spent many hours on my horse exploring the old logging roads in the New England Berkshires. I caught pollywogs, minnows, and frogs in the seasonal creek that ran behind our home. I experienced twenty-four New England autumns with the leaves of crimson and gold. These early experiences heightened my sensitivity to the landscape and affect my interpretations and painting today. |
The Yearling, oil on canvas |
I was very interested
in art as a child and experimented in oil, watercolors and pastel.
My first gallery exhibit of my watercolors was in 1992. I worked
in watercolor in my studio from slides for many years before
I rediscovered the beauty of oil painting. With oils I am able
to mix dark colors quickly, without layering, and can capture
a mood or the light of the day. I love painting outdoors, experiencing
nature and attending to the color range that is not captured
in photographs. I use a primary palette to keep my color clean
and bright. I often use a painting knife to apply paint, sometimes
leaving the hard edges and sometimes blending them smooth. Much
of my inspiration comes from the creatures and woodlands along
Soquel Creek, from other natural places in Santa Cruz County,
and from my travels.
The Society
of Six, a group of California landscape painters, wrote in their
manifesto "To us, seeing is the greatest joy of existence,
and we try to express that joy." Bringing my joy of seeing
to others through my painting gives me great satisfaction.
La Montagne Arts
I chose my business
name, La Montagne Arts, to celebrate my family heritage.
My French Canadian ancestry comes from both of my parents. La
Montagne, which means "the mountain" in French,
was my paternal grandmother's maiden name. Her father immigated
from Canada and is believed to have been a Canadian Cree Indian.
My grandmother spoke French at home and my mother added English
in school.This name also seems particularly reflective of my
current studio setting at the base of a 900 foot mountain in
Soquel.
I have operated
an enterprise under the name La
Montagne Arts
since 1992. In addition to creating original oil paintings,
I teach painting classes and produce a line of Art Notecards,
featuring photographic reproductions of my original artwork.
These are available in Capitola at Ashley
Fine Art,
on the Santa Cruz Wharf at Made In Santa Cruz, and direct from
my studio office.
Michele LaMontagne Hausman
For
information on current exhibits, upcoming shows, or to arrange
to visit her studio, contact Michele Hausman at
michele@michelehausman.com.
Images are copyright
© 1992-2004 by Michele LaMontagne Hausman
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