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Velia Newman Breaking Barriers
Latest Press Release from Wyland Galleries - Key West and Sarasota Florida U.S.A.
03/26/09 : http://www.wylandkw.com/news/newsdetail.cfm?sid=86
Velia Newman’s no-holds-barred approach to brilliant color and substantial texturing makes her acrylic painting style singular and extraordinary. At the forefront of changing boundaries with her use of acrylic paints, Velia captures childlike excitement and simplicity in her work, along with the thrill of bold colors and cheerful subject matter -- perfect to express her love for the indigenous beauty of Australian beaches, bush and garden flowers.
Influenced by her artistic parents and grandparents, Velia began painting with watercolors and oils at the age of nine. Following work with ceramics and other art mediums, she discovered her love of acrylic paints and has developed her own unique and exciting style that is reinventing the rules for acrylic media.
With her Gold Coast studio in southeast Queensland and her Sydney studio on Sydney’s North Beach, Velia is continually surrounded by gorgeous water or rainforest views. From that idyllic Australian setting, she recently shared thoughts on her passion for painting.
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Q: Your subject matter of brightly colored sailboats, beaches, fish or flowers, is very eye-catching and cheerful. Does that reflect your current surroundings?
VELIA NEWMAN: I was raised around the wildlife, ocean, flora and fauna of the picturesque Pittwater on Sydney’s northern beaches. My upbringing revolved around a freedom of knowing my insulated piece of New South Wales; the colored sails abound on a Sunday off Palm Beach, the magnificent florals growing amid a piece of paradise that I still call home. I find myself constantly drawn down to the beach on a daily basis, to catch some salt air, freedom, inspiration, and most of all some “piece of mind.”
Q: Can you explain your unique style of painting with acrylics and your texturing process?
VN: Acrylics are not static; the rules are not hard and fast or set in stone. Things like fat over lean, light over dark, and the need to always prime your support doesn’t limit the acrylic user. In acrylics I have found answers to many problems left unaddressed by other media -- they are the perfect medium for the new generation of artists and artisans.
I have developed a technique of abstraction and thick layering of acrylic to create a three-dimensional representation of what I see to be the essence of nature. The high-viscosity acrylics I use are heavy-bodied, paste-like colors that hold a great deal of texture and detail. In spite of their superior peak-holding capabilities, these colors have a smooth, buttery consistency that is easy to manipulate with anything from a very soft brush to a rigid palette knife.
Q: Do you prefer brushes, palette knife, or a combination of both?
VN: My toolkit beholds many innovative paint application techniques, one being the earliest form of a painting tool -- the hand. The most beloved tool of mine is the palette knife, which enables me to mix, cut, and spread with a result being very different to painting with the brush.
Q: It seems that you’re eager to explore new tools and mediums?
VN: I am always working with new mediums. There can be no one medium that could encapsulate our creative expression and our imagination. If one medium could solve every application dilemma, and eliminate all need for other art media, there would be a dearth of physical tools left to challenge our creativity. The compulsion to solve the capabilities and find the boundaries of a given medium or process is part of what drives me to surpass myself artistically and technically.
Q: Can you describe a typical day of painting?
VN: The day will commence with an early start and finish late into the afternoon. Touching up and adding final strokes will proceed long into the night hours, only to be adjusted the next day. My paint is applied directly to the canvas -- no sketching, no tracing, just raw layered application.
A mindset is achieved in a comfortable studio, which enables me to work every day of the week, with no set opening or closing times, lunch or tea breaks. Painting takes precedence over most given moments -- a passion hard to control, almost an addiction.
Q: How does the process of painting make you feel?
VN: Painting is a visually stimulating, mentally challenging process that drives me to completely switch off and dive right into the canvas, leaving all other external matter on the back burner.
Throughout the years, no matter the circumstances or path life has taken me, painting has always been my savior. It keeps my mind focused, my spirit happy and my thoughts clear.
Q: Did you discover your artistic creativity early in your life?
VN: Creativity is in my blood. I remember growing up sitting on my mother’s lap in front of her oil painting easel whilst she watched the dinner cook with one eye and kept our fingers amused in paint with the other. My mother is still the one whom I admire the most for letting us keep our freedom of will and most of all our spirit.
I was given a room to make a mess in, and that was Mum’s studio. I do feel this freedom of expression was the introduction to my love of paint. It was where I could express “happy” and “sad” in all matter of form. My studio is still the most important room of my home, and my daughter knows it is a place she can go quietly to just draw or paint.
Q: What would you like to be known for as an artist?
VN: Breaking barriers. This is where the fun begins. Being known as a painter who experimented beyond the preconceived notions of what paint is and how it can be applied.
Art trends are leaning toward a redefining of our aesthetic. There will always be painters, but the scope of what is considered to be formal art widens with every passing decade. Let’s not let unfamiliarity with the new, discomfort with change and the uncertainty of reinventing our tried-and-true painting style all stand in the way of experiencing the rich world being opened up by the acrylic media. It is time to get caught up in the rebellion against conformity and tradition in order to break ground and embrace the new order of painting.
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