Artist Interview – Eric G. Thompson

Eric G. Thompson’s paintings are like visual poems – spare but poignant images of the world. Here Eric talks about why he’s resisted formal art instruction and his thoughts on his work.

LM: I understand that you are a self taught painter. Did you start drawing when you were a child?

EGT:  I always loved drawing and I was good at it but I didn’t think I would be a professional artist, making a living at it.

LM: Did you read about art?

EGT:  Yes, I looked at a lot of art books and read about artists.  For some reason all the artists I loved were American realists. The first time I saw Andrew Wyeth’s work it really affected me. I was a surrealist at the time.  I had done hundreds of surrealist paintings and I had really been into Dali but when I saw Wyeth’s work I thought it was so beautiful.  I saw one he did of a wall and an oar leaning against it and that changed my life.

LM:  I can understand your interest in surrealism. The best surrealist painters were also skilled at painting realistic images.  So I can understand the transition in your work.

EGT:  Whatever I paint has to be perfect, whether it’s a glove or a chair.

LM: From a technical standpoint, the technique of applying paint to a surface, how did you work that out?

EGT:  Trial and error. An artist friend showed me the basics of how to paint with oils.  Then I figured out the rest.

LM: Did you resist the idea of formal instruction?

EGT:  Yes, I am like that with everything.  I love making mistakes. I don’t want to learn from someone, it’s really strange.  People say you can learn a lot of shortcuts if you have formal training but I feel it can also ruin you. I am really hardheaded in that area.  I want to do things myself.

LM: There’s an old saying that “there are no mistakes in art, only happy accidents”. In other words, mistakes are just situations that tell you what the right direction is.

EG: I think you learn the most from mistakes. Then you just don’t want to repeat them.

LM: So did you also go to galleries and museums to educate yourself about artists?

EGT:  Yes, but  mostly I read art books. Learning about artists lifestyles and what it takes to make it fruitful.  Taking risks.  I didn’t  have a family at the time I began, so I could take those risks.  It might have been different if I had a family, I might have said no way.

LM: Many of your most powerful pieces are very spare.  It’s paradoxical because there may not be a lot of objects in the paintings but there’s still a lot going on.  Do you want the viewer to focus on a single, specific object or more on the total composition?

EGT:  I see objects as little characters, beings, almost like spirits. I love the patina on things and how things age. Zen practice has taught me to create a space people can just be in.  There’s nothing worse than feeling claustrophobic in a painting. After a long day I want to come home to something  that gives me space, not something chaotic.  So you can just let go. Its a meditative type of focus  on one thing and I want the viewer to just see it fully.

LM: That reminds me of the Zen principle of just “resting in the moment” – not trying to impose yourself onto the thing you are seeing, just truly seeing it .

EGT:  If you really see the essence of something you almost “become it” in a way because there is nothing between you and the object.

LM: The whole idea of viewing art is that the viewer completes the process that the artist begins by painting the picture.  A painting is not really completed until a viewer takes it inside themselves.

EGT:  Yes, and they see it differently each time depending on what they are feeling at the moment and their past influences.

LM: There’s a connection between the artist and the viewer – a form of silent communication. But there doesn’t seem to be specific message in your work.

EGT:  There doesn’t seem to be?

LM: Well maybe, but the messages are subtle.  For me, your paintings are simply saying “look at how beautiful a simple coffee cup on a table top can be”.

EGT:   I do like to think that someone just left the room and they’re right outside of your view.  That’s huge for me.  Is that cup of coffee still hot, or did someone forget it and it’s now cold.  Will someone wander back into the room and get it? The viewer can fill that in for themselves. Who do they picture coming back into the painting.

I remember a painting I did with a clothesline in it. I can see someone just left the clothes on the line. Any second she’ll come back and work her way across the line, hanging up clothes and picking up her basket.

LM: So even in your paintings that don’t have figures in them there is always the idea of human presence?

EGT:  Yes, I think there’s more mystery when you don’t tell the whole story.  It can limit the imagination.

LM: Do you like painting one genre of work more than another?

EGT: Definitely the objects.  I guess they’re considered still lifes.  They have a life of their own.

LM: I think of your still lifes as interior landscapes. Is that accurate?

EGT: That’s perfect, I love that description. It explains a lot.

To see Eric’s work click here.

Leslie Sandbulte Interview

Leslie Sandbulte paints lush figurative work that depicts scenes from the lives of women. Here she discusses her art and her life as an artist.

LM: When were you first aware that you had artistic talent and that you wanted to create art?

LS:  As a 4 year old, I stood up in my bed with a purple crayon, I remember the color, and scribbled on the wall.  I got a spanking for it!

LM: Did that discourage you?

LS:  Not in the slightest. In kindergarten I lived for the moment it was my turn to stand at the easel. So it’s been a passion my whole life.

LM: Who were some of the artists you admired?

LS: A diverse group. I lived near the Huntington Library when I was young so I would go see the Gainsborough paintings over and over as a junior and high school student. When I went into USC’s art program Richard Diebenkorn was a presence and Wayne Thiebaud was taking off. I was very influenced by those artists – the intense colors and the freedom of the work.

LM: You majored in art at USC, what was that experience like?

LS:  I loved it when I was there but there was a time when I would start something and there was no resolve. I started printmaking, but no resolve. Unfortunately, we were influenced to do extremely contemporary art before we had the covered the basics. In other words “to fly before we could walk”.  So I never really got to learn my three loves, drawing, painting, and printmaking. I never focused on one thing because we had to take this whole smattering.

There’s a problem of being forced to be an adult before you go through adolescence.  I think people that are not allowed to go through adolescence are adolescents the rest of their lives. And that’s the danger of a “general” education. I can tell when an artist has had a complete arts education.  You see art history references in their work. I am very grateful for the USC experience. I am not critical of that period, but it was not enough.

LM: Did you always do figurative work?

LS: Yes, as a child I would take the Butterfield sewing pattern books and draw the women.  Sometimes I drew horses but mostly the human figure.

LM: You feel that each figure in your work is distinct? Do you feel that you are painting a specific person?

LS:  What I am not doing is portrait work.  I am not interested in differentiating ages, ethnicities, any of those things. My emphasis is on forms – are they angular, curvilinear, soft etc. . With the paintbrush I can feel what the essence of the form is. And that is much more of what I am interested in.

LM: So its it fair to say that your interested in form, almost as an abstract painter would be?

LS: Yes, that is accurate.

LM: Many people comment on how wonderful it is to see your brushwork. It’s apparent that you really love that aspect of creating the work.

LS: Yes, it lifts my spirits to see buttery brushstrokes . And the pleasure a painter gets out of it is …
Next year I might explore the stages of a working drawing and how it evolves into a painting.  For example, I start with pencil, a loose pencil.  I am interested in letting that show somewhat.  Some of the art work that I buy comes from the artists studios and they are done quickly and that allows you to see the process.  When I look at a painting I get right up to it to see the brushwork and the ground is underneath and then all of the other layers.

LM: Your work gives viewers a sense of  movement, even if the figures are in repose.

LS:  That is an interesting comment because my paintings start from two polarities.  The design of the work is based on Japanese woodcuts, which depict warriors, women dressing, the floating worlds, and these works have a lot of action and movement in them.  I also pay a lot of attention to the negative space as well as positive space. The forms create the action.

LM: Many artists have an affinity for Japanese art. Why do you think Japanese art has had such an influence on European and American artists?

LS:  The Japanese are known for design. They are geniuses of design.  The Japanese also brought in genre scenes, not always depicting aristocracy or royalty but scenes of everyday life.  Figures were painted very intimately, close up. And sometimes, the figures just go off the canvas – forms are moving before you but going off the page.  That was entirely different from the traditional European approach to figurative painting.

LM: You are a successful artist. What is your advice for other artists?

LS: At one point, I stopped doing art to raise my children and I was teaching art but I was not creating it myself.  So my advice is if you have the passion, no matter how busy your life is, dedicate one night a week to taking a course or a workshop.  You have to keep the juices going or you will evolve at a slower pace.

I rediscovered by passion for art when I walked into an art class by the impressionist Ron Lucas. I pivoted my whole life towards painting again.  I completed the dream that started early in my life.

I told my husband I was going to start painting and that I would be buying paints and he asked how I was going to pay for that and I replied “Ask me in 10 years!”.  In the 10th year I was, by the grace of God, discovered in an art show.

So back to the advice – separate yourself from money, acclaim from others, and don’t  look beyond the next painting.  Stay disciplined, go to your studio at the same time everyday, cut other things out of your life.  Do the work. Just keep painting and growing in those areas that you didn’t fulfill earlier, or the areas you want to fulfill.

To see Leslie’s work click here.