The Painter by Southern California Artist Marian Fortunati

The Painter © Marian Fortunati 8" x 10" Oil on RayMar Panel

David Gallup likes to share books with photos and information about other artists, both contemporary and historical, to illustrate points he is making while teaching.    He questions who my "favorites" are and shares his own.  Before I began studying drawing and painting, my knowledge of technique and really of the history of art was limited to that which I learned in a college course and on my visits to Europe.   I think I should also note that the view I took during my earlier explorations was more superficial than it is now.  I now like to learn about the artists and their work with an entirely different way of seeing than previously.  Whether that is better or worse doesn't matter.  It just is.

I mention all of that because while this painting isn't really a portrait of a specific painter, it is painted from a long-distant photo I took of an artist I admire who had invited me to paint with a small group one day.  I admire her work and I admire her as a person.  I also really liked the scene in Tapia State Park the day we painted there.   I went to Tapia again just last week with my California Art Club friends as part of a paint-out,  (see previous post) but it looked very different than it had several years earlier in warmer months.

The painter (in the painting) often talked about how she learned from another artist with whom she studied in a mentor-type relationship.  I have studied with several artists, and although I have become close to several of them, I wouldn't say I was "mentored" by them.   My hope isn't to develop a style just like theirs, but to learn as much as I can from them so that what I learn becomes a part of MY continually evolving style.  I just learn what I can and use all the wonderful information they share with me to help me continue to improve my ability to create.  No artist creates "original" work...   We all are simply an odd (or ordered) collection of skills, observations, hard work, vision and faith.

I liked the distinct notan of this painting as well as the way the warm grasses and flowers edge the path and lead the eye to The Painter.