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Interviews
An Interview with

Sherie Drake

by James Leonard-Amodeo
If you're an artist and would like to be interviewed, please contact us.
Please note that there is a fee associated with an interview.
The Directories of American Art Galleries
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Where did you grow up?
          I grew up in Milwaukee, Oregon, a suburb of Portland.


Was anyone in your family an artist?
          My interest in art was at an early age as my Mother and sister enjoyed painting. My father enjoyed photography and I remember him waiting for that perfect wave at the beach or the sun to set. My parents also enjoyed raising fuchsia [100's] so our yard was a tourist stop for different gardening clubs.


How long have you been painting?
          I have been drawing and painting for the past 35 years. In 1990 when I began teaching is when art became a necessity in my life. I have painted daily since that time and I can't imagine my life without art.


Did you start painting from books or did you have a teacher in the beginning?
          I began painting from Walter Foster books at home and from there went on to take art classes at De Anza Junior College and San Jose Community College. I took these classes for pure enjoyment, not with a degree in mind.


In what particular style do you think you were best in school?
          The figure classes are where I excelled, but I took landscape and still life classes also.


Did you do any out-of-school studying?
          Once my two boys grew up and I had more free time, I went on to take private classes from artists in the Bay area. I also took workshops from artists outside of the Bay Area.


Did you exhibit your work at all while in the Bay Area?
          I belonged to the Los Gatos Art Association and entered in their shows and exhibits.  I showed work at Portola Valley Art gallery and exhibited my work in two separate shows at Los Gatos Museum. I participated in Silicon Valley Open Studios 2002.


What fine arts educational institutes have you attended?
          De Anza College, San Jose Community College, San Jose State, Austin Community College. Also a sundry of workshops and private lessons.


Can you talk to us about the art teacher aspect of your life?
          I moved to Austin, Texas in 1985 and began an art degree at the Austin junior college.  This was interrupted by a move back to the Bay Area in 1989. I received a teaching credential through San Jose State to teach art classes for Adult Education. I taught landscape and portrait and figure classes for Santa Clara Adult Education and Los-Gatos-Mt. View Adult Education. I began teaching in 1990 at the Palo Alto Art Center, doing portrait and figure classes in pastel, oil, acrylic and mixed media. I also taught portrait classes at University Arts, San Jose and Los Gatos Parks and Recreation. I continued teaching till I moved to Sonora, Ca. in October 2001. I also did demonstrations at most of the art clubs around the Bay Area in the early 1990's.


Who are the artists that you think were a key to your artistic development?
          I studied figure and portrait painting in pastel and oils with Bob Gerbracht for 6 years.  He encouraged intense observation and study to improve drawing and help with getting a likeness. He also emphasized form and how to see color. He was an excellent teacher and artist.
          I learned color and light and action painting from Michael Linstrom who taught classes in the Los Gatos area. Linstrom was influenced by the Hawthorne Cape Cod School of Art and the Impressionists. He opened my eyes to color and taught me not to name objects as I painted but to translate subjects into tone, shape and color; one color spot next to the other.  His theory was that "if you can see it, you can paint it". This thought process simplified matters. Another talented artist, instructor and writer I studied with was Charles Sovek. I attended two of his work shops, one in Bend, Oregon, and the other in Mendocino, Ca. He is a colorist and action painter who mainly teaches and paints plein air.


Who are the artists that you like most?
          In particular I like the artists that made up the Impressionistic school of France:  Monet, Morisot, Pissaro, Degas, Manet, Renoir, Sissley, Bazille. However, I receive inspiration by studying Post-Impressionist painters like Van Gogh and Gauguin, I also favor Matisse.


Why these in particular? Is there something specific that attracts you to the works of these painters?
          I study the Impressionists for their color seeing ability and the inspiration the paintings offer. The sheer appreciation of their mastery of paint. Van Gogh's works have color vibration, expressive textures, emotion, simplicity and true honesty. I appreciate Gauguin's use of pure flat color, his individual style of painting primitive people.
          Degas works I enjoy for his subjects, drawings skills and use of color.  Berthe Morisot was an exceptional female artist who did the impossible in her day. To be a master artist and yet continue to maintain her feminine role in a society ruled by men.  Morisot gives me inspiration when the laundry piles up and the commission is on the easel.
          Matisse has influenced my use of line. His use of color, pattern, composition and design has been a great reference for my own work.


So you lean more toward the Impressionistic style, than? 
          Yes, it suits my way of seeing.  I enjoy the way light falls on objects.


Is this by conscious choice? You could have been a classicist or an abstract painter, for example.
          I choose the style of impressionism although I enjoy fracturing the backgrounds on figurative paintings and this leans toward abstraction.


Can you tell us what elements of the Impressionistic style attracts you most?
          Color and light. I think light can make an ordinary subject beautiful. To capture a visual reality in terms of pure light is a challenge I enjoy when painting. I prefer leaving small shapes to the viewer. It makes the picture more enjoyable when every detail hasn't been spelled out.  Using color in an amplified manner, playing compliments off each other for color vibration is also part of the beauty and challenge.


This reminds me of the music composer developing harmonies and the different tonal variations. Would you say painting is very much like music?
          Although my musical talents are minimal [playing piano as a child] a painting and music can be compared to each other. Not unlike music a painting should have harmony, unity and rhythm. This can be felt in the finished painting, a feeling of cohesiveness a visual effortlessness that the painting was done with a single thought, a beginning a middle and an end. Painting is not unlike a composer who places strong and soft passages in his music.  The strokes the artist makes with brush or chalks: short ones, long, wide a dot or dash these tonal variations guide the eye through the painting, with a continuous flow like a well orchestrated piece of music.


What mediums do you prefer to work with?
          I enjoy the pastel medium. Pastels are immediate and suit my gestural line and strong use of color.  When I work with pastel I tone the sanded surface first and this tone becomes part of the finished picture. I enjoy oils because of the feel of the paint under the brush.  I also mix brush work with palette knife.  I premix a palette of 3 values of each color so I can work quickly. This may come from my pastel work because it is not unlike picking up a stick of pastel.


So, you paint with oils and pastels, then?
          I like both mediums and alternate every 6 paintings.


Why alternate?
          Since I feel comfortable working in pastels or oils alternating these mediums keeps me proficient in both.  I have also found each helps the growth of the other. When my inspirations dries up using one medium its time to alternate.


Do you work with live models or from photographs?
          I prefer live models but occasionally work from photographs.


What is the advantage of working with live models?
          If you work from life you can see more color and there is energy between you and the model.


Do you feel Leonardo was correct in stating that a detailed study of reality is essential in order to paint more precisely?
          There are different schools of thought concerning the necessity of good drawing skills.  Some artists profess if you can see the right shape, color and tone of an object and place it on the surface you don't have to draw. I believe in order to copy a shape to resemble what you are looking at you need to be able to draw. Drawing regularly should be a practice of all artists.


Would this rule apply to abstract painters, also?
          This is a tough question.  The abstract painter is still working with unity, harmony and rhythm, organizing shapes to make a cohesive finish. His finish is just not representational; one would then assume that the abstract painter has no need of drawings skills. I think a drawing background is essential even for the abstract painter. I believe an artist should have experienced all the technical aspects of the art process so he/she has this background at their disposal, this includes all styles of painting.


Do you feel a landscape painter needs to pay as much attention to shape and form, light and shadow, as, say, a figurative painter?
          Yes, the same elements apply.


Do you do landscapes?
          My focus for the past year has been on painting landscapes in pastels and oil.  I mainly paint plein air but refer to photos for reference. Sonora's beautiful countryside is full of inspiration. I often paint the view from my deck and capture the seasons as they change.  It isn't what you paint; it's how you paint it.


What would you say are the greatest challenges facing the landscape painter?
          A landscape painter must record what they see in shape, tone and color, texture; however there is the challenge of moving shapes around and editing out shapes to make a pleasing composition; moreover, sticking to your original idea and having only one focal point.


What about those facing the figurative painter?
          The figure painter is dealing with shape, tone and color also but the focal point is established. The area surrounding the figure [negative space] can become a challenge. It must tie the figure to the edges and be of interest but not take away from the figure.  I enjoy his challenge and generally design shapes to break up this negative space. I think the figure can present more of a problem than landscape because in landscape you can be more flexible with the shapes as in figure you can't add a third leg.


Are such challenges present for the abstract painter, do you think?
          The abstract painter has the same problems of breaking up space with shape, tone, color and texture; he just makes it non-representational.


When you do oils, do you use an individualized palette or do you start off with the basic colors?
          I experiment with different palettes. Often I choose one red, one yellow one blue, black and white.  I try and see how far I can stretch these colors. A limited palette insures color harmony and also improves the artist's color mixing vocabulary. To insure a wider range of color I choose a warm and cool red, warm and cool yellow, warm and cool blue. I prefer to mix violets and greens. Sometimes I add virdian or thalo blue green. For neutrals I mix 3 values of ivory black and white to make gray and then add the compliments.


What about size? Do you have a preference or does market demand dictate the size of your work?
          The sizes I generally use  are from  9" x 12" to 24" x 36". So far I haven't had a reason to work larger. I find for plein air painting a 16" x 20" is a good size for a mornings painting in pastel and a 9" x 12" is an easy size for oils. I can get down what I need to in one painting session and do touch up work in the studio.


Do you have any special formula in pricing your work?
          I price work by size. There is a strong tendency to want to price my favorite works higher but since this is personal feeling I try to keep my emotions out of it.


In today's economic climate, do you think it has become more difficult selling art?
          I have talked to a few artists who have seen a slump in sales but if one keeps the quality of the work high there will always be an audience.


More than ever before today there are licensing companies selling prints and posters. Do you feel this is detrimental to the market of original works of art?
          This is a touchy subject among artists. Some artist's feel to make prints demeans their work; that a fine painting should be a one of a kind and this is what a collector of art will only accept.  I think there are different levels of art appreciation and budgets.ordable price;  so for the collector there is the original, and for those with thinner budgets there's the print and posters. So far I  am on the fence and have not made prints of my work.


I note that today there are a lot of women artists. You're a woman, so I'd like to ask your opinion: Why do you feel women are more attracted to the fine arts today than men?
          Women have a natural tendency toward creativeness. This generation of women is more determined to achieve their goals and make these choices work in their lives. In other words women are finally stepping forward and fulfilling their dreams, thus more women pursuing the arts.


Would it be justified, do you think, to give some credit to men by saying that the men of today are being fairer toward women than the men of yesterday?
          I think men are supporting women more today and treating them as equals.


What are your plans for the future?
          I plan to keep painting and enjoying the process.