Controlling Relationships in Urban Landscapes

Transcription

1 artist profile CHRISTINA BODY Controlling Relationships in Urban Landscapes Chicago artist Christina Body uses drawings, value studies, and a camera viewfinder to create plein air landscapes that capture both the bold structures and the subtle ephemera of cities. P ainting scenes with buildings, cars, and people can be an intimidating process, because viewers of the finished pictures will immediately recognize any inaccuracies. Moreover, those observers may get bored looking at the dull gray paints often used to identify those elements of the city landscape. The dual challenge, therefore, is to represent the complex arrangement of shapes in a believable space, using a balance of vibrant warm and cool colors. Christina Body learned to master all aspects of urban landscape painting after spending a few years in Jamaica and Key West, painting street life, beaches, harbors, and tropical vegetation. Even when we don t know it, our early experiences often prepare us for our life s work, she says. After college, I earned a living as a waitress and mural painter and saved as much money as I could to afford extended painting trips. I made the first in 1995 to Jamaica, where I spent four months painting everyday life on the island; then, in 1997, I spent the winter in Key West, Florida, painting and selling landscapes and figure studies. In addition to giving me the confidence to pursue a career in art, the painting trips gave me a valuable opportunity to hone my craft and find my voice as an artist. I went back to my home in Chicago to continue pursuing my art career even after I got married and started a family with my husband, Jake Goldberg. However, up until the final days of my pregnancies with my two sons, I spent time painting in downtown Chicago with Scott Tallman Powers, and that really helped give focus to what I was doing. Body and Tallman Powers helped each other stay motivated and protected against crowds and street people as they became skilled at handling the challenges of urban plein air painting. I was so fortunate to find a painting buddy PA_pxx-xx_Profile_Christina_Body_AprMay14.indd 75 Cloud Gate 2012, oil, 8 x 10 in. One of Christina Body s sons watches her paint. 75

2 artist profile Fresh Catch 2013, oil, 8 x 13 in. 76 Crossing Light 2012, oil, 11 x 14 in. April-May 2014 / PA_pxx-xx_Profile_Christina_Body_AprMay14.indd 76

3 who was just as dedicated to plein air painting, equally determined to keep improving, and able to find humor in the serious pursuit, Body says. Our presence on the street attracted the attention of all sorts of people, including some who wanted to revive a dormant interest in painting. We invited those folks to come out and paint with us, and eventually we formed the Chicago Plein Air Painters. Unusual Circumstances, Standard Techniques Body admits there are a lot of things to contend with when artists paint on the streets of a city, including the difficulty of finding parking spaces and restrooms, the constant interruptions of passersby, the noises and fumes, and the issue of finding places to set up out of the way of cars and people. It s not for wimps, Body says. Scott and I got lots of parking tickets, we had to convince merchants to let us use bathrooms and get out of the rain, we had to respond to the FAQs about what and why we were painting, and we had to act interested when passersby told us about their relatives who painted. But despite all the excuses one might come up with for not getting out there, there is nothing quite as exciting and rewarding as being energized and excited by scenes in a city. She goes on, For me, the best reason to paint urban landscapes is the opportunity to give form to the powerful presence of the city. Personally, I m not much interested in painting beautiful gardens and gingerbread decorations. I focus on the large, heavy structural objects and architecture. And when I turn my attention to the soft light illuminating distant buildings or towers projecting into the clouds, I juxtapose those subtle forms with a steel overpass, the massive cornerstone of a building, trucks passing by, bridges arching over the highways, and telephone poles jutting up from the sidewalks. I am attracted to deep perspectives and use power lines and crosswalks to pull the viewer s attention into the painting. I m never afraid of a scene because it is too complicated in terms of the number of structures or the varying heights of the buildings. The more complicated the scene, the better I like it. In truth, the process of painting a cityscape is the same as representing flowers, people, mountains, or rivers. The only difference is that everyone knows when the cars are too small, the buildings don t recede into the distance, or people don t seem to be moving. Body believes preliminary drawings and value studies are especially important in painting cityscapes. Drawing is important no matter what the subject of a painting, but it has to be more accurate with urban landscapes, she points PA_pxx-xx_Profile_Christina_Body_AprMay14.indd 77 ARTIST DATA Working Dock 2013, oil, 6 x 8 in. NAME: Christina Body BIRTHDATE: 1971 LOCATION: Wilmette, IL INFLUENCES: Ashcan School artists, Winslow Homer, Thomas Hart Benton, J.S. Sargent, J. Sorolla, Francis Livingston, Ken Auster, Richard Schmid, and Jeremy Mann. WEBSITE: 77

4 Not for Hire 2013, oil, 16 x 20 in. 78 Winter Lights 2008, oil, 16 x 20 in. April-May 2014 / PA_pxx-xx_Profile_Christina_Body_AprMay14.indd 78

5 out. Depending on how complex the subject and large the canvas, I will do black-and-white value studies and graphite sketches before I start drawing on a toned canvas with thin mixtures of an oil color. However, I am usually eager to start painting and not burn time working on sketches. I often evaluate the cropping of a scene by looking at it through the viewfinder on my camera. I minored in photography in college, so I am comfortable using that instead of an adjustable viewfinder made specifically for painters. I can pan across the landscape to determine what will be the focus of my attention and the scale of the objects I want to include in a painting. I always work on toned surfaces, and I carry different ones out on location so I can pick one that contrasts well with the overall color of the scene. Most of the canvases will have a neutral tone, but others will be bright orange and deep purple. Some of that underlying color will show through the brush strokes in the finished painting, and that adds some vibration between the pigments. Once Body is satisfied with the drawing over the toned surface, she begins to block in the big-value shapes of the composition. More often than not, those big shapes will define both the darkest dark and lightest light values. If I have observed and recorded the value pattern correctly, the light will seem to burst through the surface of the painting and I can envision how the finished painting will appear, she says. That s when the fun happens, as I judge the subsequent applications of color in terms of both their temperature and value. I know it will seem odd to some people that an urban landscape painter loves color, but that really is what excites me. I may be forced to paint in grays to represent the city, but I use as much paint as I can to create the temperature of the light. Body draws and paints whenever her schedule allows, even if it s only 30 minutes of drawing while she takes care of her two sons. I paint every day while my sons are in school, and I have sketchbooks scattered around my house so I can use every spare minute to make a quick sketch or gesture drawing, she says. I always take my paints with me on family trips, especially if we are heading into a city. I do a lot of studio painting, sometimes on commission from collectors, and the information I gather outdoors is an essential element of those bigger pieces. Two of Body s recent paintings were exhibited in the West Wing of the White House when William M. Daley served as President Obama s chief of staff from January 2011 to January His wife, Bernadette Keller, contacted me and we talked over the subject matter and size of the paintings she wanted for Mr. Daley s office, Body says. I had one completed painting that worked perfectly, but I had to create another in six days. I was up all night for those six days because I knew this was an extraordinary opportunity. Once the paintings were hung, I was invited to take my husband and sons on a private tour of the White House. Broad Street (above) 2013, oil, 14 x 18 in. Forgotten Drums 2010, oil, 9 x 12 in. M. STEPHEN DOHERTY is editor-in-chief of PleinAir magazine. See more of Christina Body s work in the expanded digital edition of PleinAir. PA_pxx-xx_Profile_Christina_Body_AprMay14.indd 79 79