ARTIST

257words

with San Luis Obispo-based plein air artist Christine Cortese

My mom was a painter, but she had nine kids—I was number eight—so she really didn’t have time for art. Maybe there is bit of genetics that she passed down to me, but really, I think that anyone can be a painter if they work at it. You have to practice just like anything.

The thing about plein air that I love so much is that it’s all about how things look in different light, in nature. Natural colors. It’s all about the light. The long shadows of the morning and evening are best.

My friends think I’m so crazy because I’m fast and hyper; let’s go, let’s do it! I do have a lot of energy. And, I am very fast. It usually takes me an hour or two. I can do a painting in a half an hour. I can get three paintings done in a day. Maybe I am kind of crazy. ” When I’m painting, it’s a form of meditation for me. I’m just totally in the zone. It’s very relaxing; you go somewhere else. Sometimes people come up to you and say, “Oh, what are you doing?” I scream because I don’t even hear them walk up.

I describe my art as loose and juicy. People laugh when I say that. But, it’s true. It’s more impressionistic. I don’t like things that look too tight, too realistic, too hard edge. I like lost and found edges as in the early California plein air style. It’s reality, but with an artistic bent.