DAAG: INTERVIEWS: SHERRIE MCGRAW

Interviews

The Directories of American Art Galleries

An Interview with

Sherrie McGraw

by James Leonard-Amodeo

Sherrie McGraw is an artist imbued with that sort of talent which produces artwork that will endure for generations. Her skills in laying out that perfect brushstroke at the perfect spot on the canvas are uncanny and subtle. Likewise, her drawing talent is refined and full of confidence. Her paintings tell you so. Her still lives achieve such a character that in my estimation they are worthy of the Louvre.

Many months ago, when I was making a list of artists's names I wanted to invite for an interview, quite by accident I came across a still life signed by Sherrie McGraw named "Two Dynasties". This was on the internet. I had never heard of Sherrie McGraw. Attracted by that one single work, instinctively I felt this was no ordinary artist. There was quality behind the work, but there was more -- there was genius! I started doing some research. Only one artist out of many that I talked to knew Sherrie by name. Noone else had ever heard of her. I went searching on the internet. My search yielded disappointment because there is very little on the internet about Sherrie McGraw. Still, based on that singular piece I had seen, and on my gut feeling, I felt compelled to write and see if she would do an interview with me. She accepted. And as the interview came to an end and Sherrie sent me more artwork, I knew I had made a right choice.

One particularity that struck me about her paintings was the dark background in almost every piece. I wanted to ask her if she did this by choice -- knowing how well colors like orange and red stand out on a black backdrop -- or might it be a subconscious, psychological something related to her life experience? Unfortunately, the question had to remain unanswered because the interview was already quite long.

Sherrie was always off teaching somewhere (she is a painting instructor in some of the most prestigious art schools in the country) and I didn't always know from where she was answering her emails. But in my opinion it were better to receive her late replies rather than not do this interview.

At the outset, I sensed that Sherrie McGraw didn't have much faith in this proposal. To her it was probably just another interview, just like any other interview already published in well-known, hardcopy, art magazines. But as the questions I sent her continued, she realized this was a little deeper of a conversation than your run-of-the-mill, "Quick! Give me a brief answer because I've got to meet my deadline" type of interview! When we had finished, she told me she was pleased with what we had accomplished together: "This has been the best interview I have ever participated in," she wrote me, adding: "I honestly mean that."

And to be totally honest with you, I do, too!

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How long have you been painting?

In 1975 I began my studies with Richard and Edith Goetz in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. I then went to New York to study with David A. Leffel at the Art Students League in 1978.

How old were you then?

I was 23 yrs old.

Why the change from OK to NY?

My teachers in Oklahoma taught impressionism, and after three years of study, I realized that my heart lay with something else, but at the time I didn't know what. Painting had become so unpleasurable for me that I questioned if I wanted to be an artist at all. This led to a four-month trip with a friend to find a teacher. We looked in art schools, museums and galleries from Chicago to Lubec, Maine, and ended at the League in NY where I discovered David Leffel. I resonated deeply with his work; I soaked in every word he uttered, every brushstroke he made. Considering my progress previously, my painting developed rapidly, and within three years, I was able to quit my job and just paint.

Is there any particular reason why you chose a career as painter?

I cannot remember a time when I did not want to be a fine artist. Odd though this must seem, my parents' life advice was to do what made me happy. This encouragement was immeasurable in contributing to the relative ease of my life as a painter.

So you painted even in your adolescence?

Drawing was my primary medium for years. In the sixth grade my parents enrolled me in the Famous Artists program, a correspondence course. This was the first time that I attempted oil. This program did not work out for me, but I continued to paint. Serious study, though, did not come until I studied at the Goetz School of Art at the age of twenty.

Do you feel your peers may have influenced the career path you've chosen?

While I was growing up, I had two friends that were unusually talented. I admired them greatly, but my decision to be an artist had been made long before I encountered them.

When was this decision made?

When I was four years old. I had been so moved by the art books I studied that I didn't even realize that I was making a decision. I simply wanted to do what I saw and understand what these artists understood.

Was anyone in your family an artist?

I had an unusually talented uncle who could cartoon. He turned down a chance to work for Walt Disney to be a golf pro. Whenever I could manage it, I pursuaded him to draw me pictures of sharks, people, or sometimes he would improvise and draw a butcher carrying a hatchet dripping with blood, his lower leg severed and bleeding on the ground. Needless to say, my fascination with drawing, however intense it already was, soared.

It sounds like your uncle drew gruesome things. Weren't you appalled at this? How old were you?

Oh, I was young enough alright. No I wasn't appalled. I was amazed at how a line became one side of a leg, a squiggle became hair. I was completely mesmerized. It was magic to me.

Whatever happened to this talented uncle?

For years, he was a personal assistant to Hogan in Fort Worth. Now he travels to tournaments and makes sure that players have all the Hogan merchandise they need. He was a golf pro for years.

Can you tell us a bit about your birth and ethnic background?

I was born in Wichita, KS and was raised in Ponca City, OK, a mid-sized oil town in northern Oklahoma. I have Irish and Scotish blood, with a smattering of Cherokee.

Cherokee from the paternal or maternal side?

My father's side. He says that our great grandmother looked like a full-blooded Cherokee, only she was only a quarter true blood.

Are your parents 1st or 2nd generation Americans?

Second generation. We actually had a great, great grandfather (on my mother's side) named Tom Clancey. Imagine that! In the 12th grade I did a pen and ink drawing of him and his wife from a very small photo.

Can you remember any art influences during your childhood?

Undoubtedly, the most potent influence was from art books that my mother had bought from the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The first painting I did was of a detail of Botticelli's famous painting "Primavera". I was also known to copy Italian Master drawings from one of these books in my mother's library. I savored them as a chocolate lover might choose her next confection.

So, it seems your mother was an art affecionado? Did she paint at all?

My mother should have been an actress or a writer, or both. She was beautiful and had the artist's spirit. She also had a full set of Shakespeare plays, Handel's Messiah, and an album of Mario Lanzo singing. These were not the normal things to have in Ponca City!

What were some of the things that may have inspired you to become an artist outside of family influence?

I was always visual. I did not read much and I didn't converse much. I was quiet and usually watched the adult world with all of my attention. I was in the habit of making things to play with: perhaps mud dishes with various plants and flowers as the feast; a Barbie mansion with balconies, air conditioners and stairways; game boards or perhaps, dolls out of yarn. And of course, I always drew.

Always?

I say always, because I cannot remember a time when I didn't draw. It was my most dear form of recreation.

Did you hold many other occupations before deciding to become a full-time painter?

No. I only held two full-time jobs before becoming a painter. The first was as a clerk-typist at the Real Estate Commission in Oklahoma. The second was as a security guard at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. I was on the early watch from 4 'til midnight. At that time there was great freedom and I often managed to draw, study paintings and squeeze in a few games of ping pong.

Working for the Met in NY must have been exciting. You probably got to see many shows.

The first show that I guarded was the King Tut exhibit. Another time, the museum had just acquired the Degas bronzes of nude women and horses. Before they had plexiglass to protect them, I pulled a double shift and stayed up all night studying them. No complaints here. It was, undoubtedly, the best job I could have ever had.

Can you remember your very first art show?

I honestly don't remember. I started slowly and quietly and thereby have been afforded the liberty to develop without being burdened by demands too early in my career.

Do you have demands now?

Oh yes. I used to think that life would settle down soon and be less hectic, but now I realize that was a dream.

What sort of demands might these be?

The nature of a career is to be in the public eye, and that means deadlines for shows. They never end. As I mentioned before, I often accept requests to demonstrate and teach. Also, I am writing a book on drawing that I hope to have out by next December. We'll see, it is a big project as I am self-publishing.

Can you share with us how you felt the first time you sold one of your pieces?

I was, needless to say, shocked that anyone would offer me money for my work. I was taking my second workshop and sold a pastel for $10 to one of the other students.

What does your work sell for now?

My range is from $2,500 - $40,000.

Is your art represented outside the USA?

I do not show outside of the US.

Is any of your work licensed out to, say, companies that sell posters and prints?

Yes. Larry Cantor in Los Angeles has produced two high-quality iris prints of my interiors and The New York Graphic Society has produced three prints of my still lifes and one of my landscapes.

So, these are available for purchase?

Yes, they are. Larry Cantor does an exceptional job to produce the highest quality prints that I have ever seen. New York Graphic Society does a very good job on poster-quality prints. Their standards are high as well for this venue.

Can you tell us a little about your academic background.

I attended the Oklahoma College of Liberal Arts in Chickasha, OK. After they fired my favorite teachers, I left in protest and attended Central State University in Edmond, OK. After receiving high grades in the art department and realizing that I still did not know how to draw or paint, I realized that a university was not the place to become an artist and I quit to study privately with two artists in Oklahoma City.

I often hear artists say such things as you express about university art courses. What's wrong with our academic system, do you think?

The trend has been towards modernism where it was felt that academic crafts were not relevant anymore. I spoke with one student in Canada that informed me that easel painting is considered passe` in the Museums and Universities. The students of these institutions then are hired to teach, and any knowledge of craft is continually diluted. In one University in Washington, D.C., a star student was deemed by a visiting artist to be worse than his beginning students in his classes. Not a very hopeful thing. The college art depts seem amazed when anyone has any skill at all.

What needs to be done, do you think, to improve our academic system?

Answer: I think students need to be brought back to the real origin of art, stimulation to learn in the medium of drawing or paint. Today, unfortunately, a student thinks they have arrived when a gallery takes them on and they start selling. Our world is deprived of the work that could have been....

Who were the artists that you most admired as you settled into your career as a painter?

David A. Leffel, Hovsep Pushman, Velasquez, Toulouse Lautrec and John Singer-Sargent.

I had only heard of Leffel but never did any research to know who he really is and how he paints. Recently, though, l checked him out and learned that he admire the 17th century Dutch masters, especially Rembrandt. I remember reading somewhere that Leffel's main concentration is still lifes and portraits. Funny, but listening to you reminds me very much of what i've read on Leffel. He must have had a great impact on you while you studied with him.

I have had an extraordinary priviledge. Of any artist in history, I resonate most with David's work, and I have been able to learn from him for twenty-five years. I feel lucky to have found him when I did.

Hovsep Pushman created poems to accompany many of his paintings or described the significance of their compositional elements. Around 1940 he painted "Sultanabad Plate," and said: "This painting is composed of objects which came from the East. A little statue of Mongolian origin, a plate from the Sultanabad district, a little iridescent bottle found in an ancient Syrian tomb, and a Persian vase containing a branch of apple blossoms . . . I have used a background so contrived to supply a foil for the objects placed before them; light streams through the composition binding the sitting statuette with the plate . . . There is an abiding hush in this canvas, the intense stirring stillness of remembered music." What do you think of the idea of writing poems or a commentary for each painting?

What a wonderful thing that he wrote about the painting, however, the beauty of any good painting is there to be seen without explanation if one really looks. That is the nature of painting, the beauty of it.

Who are the painters you admire most today?

Still the ones mentioned, only now I have a profound and growing respect for Rembrandt. I also admire many contemporary artists, and here are a few that I haven't mentioned: Donald Teague, Thomas William Jones, Matt Smith, Bob Kuhn, Christopher Blossom, Richard Schmid and many others. But there is a painting that I have thought of often and admire greatly by Howard Terpning that hangs in the permanent collection at the Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City named "Moving Day on the Flathead". It is an extraordinary idea and thus haunts me still.

I have only seen prints of "Moving Day on the Flathead" by Howard Terpning. But even the print shows the power behind the work. How does it "haunt" you still? Can you describe the awe one feels before such great work of art?

I respond most to work that does a lot with a little. In his painting, the design is beautiful, the scale perfect. It speaks of a sensitivity to size and placement which is rare these days. The color is harmonious and serves an idea. The paint quality is compelling. He has wasted no energy; eveything goes to make this a beautiful painting.

How do you feel toward the Rennaissance painters like Leonardo, for example?

The Renaissance painters were doing extraordinary things for the time. Painting then was, however, drawing with color. Not until Titian did the shorthand way of painting directly evolve without using grids, grisailles, and transferred drawings.

Please explain what you mean by "Painting...was...drawing with color". Also, explain what you mean by "shorthand". Can you give us an example or two?

During the time of Michelangelo, the art of drawing was understood. When they wanted color images, they started adding color, filling in the lines, so to speak. Basically, the paintings were flat (and by all means many were masterpieces), but they were flat, colored drawings. Titian was a wonderful example of how one artist through insight went from his early work where form was created as one does in drawing, by modeling darker to an edge, to his marvelous paintings of his later years (after 60 yrs.old) where painting was less time consuming and more direct. This required not only mastery of drawing skills, but now, a mastery of paint and the brush.

What would you call your particular style of painting?

"Chiaroscuro", light and dark painting. With it comes the desire to push paint to its limit, using variations of thin and thick paint.

That's original. I've never heard of a style called "Chiaroscuro". Didn't Leonardo use the term first? But you're are using it in a different way.

I learned the name from David Leffel. I think that it is an established term referring to light and shadow painting. This way of working might be compared to "coloratura" singing. It explores the medium with all its possibilities. For example, there is much more of a fascination with depth and dimension, contrast of values, and for the ones that I most admire, using less color and making it feel like you used more. Again, conservation of energy and resources are what I am drawn to. Doing more with less.

Do you mean that sort of "exploring the medium" that goes on in jazz music?

Yes, in every art form, those that truly love the medium explore what is possible with it, out of the pure love and fun of doing it.

Paintings often require a style label. Impressionism, for example, is a style many artists use to describe their work. How do you view this business of "style"?

I feel that style as a concept is limiting. Though I can give you a name for what I do, and it resembles the craft of 17th century painters, it would be misleading to label it by style. Good painting spans style, and thus the recognition of good painting ideas and excellent paint quality emerge as the criteria. Style gains popularity with painters and collectors alike as it gives them an easily identifying trait. This often leads to cursory attention to the painting itself. I am mostly inspired by light, and understanding of that may come in varying packages, indeed.

Can you elaborate on "cursory attention"?

Yes. Oddly enough, most people do not engage with a painting. Therefore, they are much more comfortable putting on a label so that they don't have to really look at it to see what it contains. You see, Terpning might be labeled as a Western artist, but what he does at times is well beyond the subject matter. The painting we spoke of would be beautiful even if it weren't of Indians and horses.

Agreed. But can an artist expect a viewer to be as non-judgmental, non-prejudiced, toward a painting he sees for the first time? What does it take, do you think, to view a piece of art without pre-conceived notions? is it possible to do this?

You are right, no one comes to a painting without prejudices. However, if the viewer is receptive, he is elevated by the vision and solutions of the artist in a way that changes his perceptions. Those that look but do not see will always be with us, but hopefully we can hook those that are open and looking.

What subjects do you usually paint?

Most of my work consists of still lifes. I do a variety of subjects, however: figures, portrait, landscapes, and interiors.

The fact that you do many still lifes reminds me of the influence by Leffel.

Yes. Upon my move from Oklahoma, landscape took a back seat and I mostly worked in a studio. Still life is a way to study the elements of painting without paying for a model and without a moving subject. Perfect for my early years, however. I am still drawn to old objects and have enjoyed trying to capture the beauty there. I also like that I can have control over the set-up, unlike the illusory situation with landscape, which I now find stimulating as well. It is different, but ultimately, the same as painting anything.

How "limited" is your palette?

Relatively limited. Ten colors plus black and white. (Naples Yellow, Yellow Ochre, Venetian Red or Pompeian Red in Vasari, Cad. Yel. Deep, Cad. Yel. Light, Cad. Red Light, Pthalo Blue, Ultra. Blue Deep, Burnt Umber, Raw Umber in Vasari, Ivory Black, and Cremnitz White. Added colors are Trans Oxide Red and Alizarin Crimson Permanent in Gamblin).

Ten is a lot of colors. I know a painter who uses four and that's all you'll find on her palette. Amazing! Why ten?

I find that each color is one that I cannot mix easily, if at all. Relative to the options being sold in art stores, I consider my palette a relatively limited one.

What is your favorite mix to render shadow?

I would tell a new, "clueless" student: mix black with any of the cadmiums, just to give them a point of departure. But honestly, I have no favorite mix because every painting requires a new consideration.

Do you ever find yourself in a situation where you have to paint from a photo?

I prefer to paint from life. I use photos only in a situation where no drawing can be made and the photo is absolutely necessary. To improve in one's work, working from life must be a priority as nature teaches in a way that a camera never will. A camera cannot see what the human eye can.

But isn't it the task of the artist to, say, take a scene and use technique to enhance it? I mean you can't just paint a landscape. There has to be human interpretation of what is seen before the eyes. Without the application of technical effects a landscape cannot be appealing. Which leads me to ask you, can't you use technique to enhance a subject in a photo? Wouldn't it be the same as a live scene? I don't see why artists have this thing against painting from a photo.

What you are talking about -- using technique to enhance a subject -- is not what I do with painting. In the moment of inspiration, the eye selectively sees relationships between objects. The artist paints these relationships. If you see everything as separate and unrelated, the result will show that too. Working from nature is important because of the relationship of artist to subject. Nothing can replace it. It would be like making love to a photo of your girlfriend; not the same.

Okay. The point of making love to a photo of my girlfriend is very clear. (Are you artists out there listening?). Can you tell us a bit about your personal evolution and how you arrived at the determination that painting would be your life's career?

When I was four years old, I accompanied my mother to a friend's house where they discussed the previous night's bridge game and drank coffee. I knew then that I did not want this life and vowed not to do anything that these women were doing, thinking that I could then avoid this path. To this day, I have never drunk a cup of coffee.

Coffee's such a nice drink, especially with friends at a café! I suppose you saw the shallowness of the situation and wanted something with more depth?

Frankly, I saw an intelligent woman who never intended to be a mother, grossly under-utilized in this inescapable role. My opinion, for sure, but I did not want that to happen to me.

Can you tell us a bit more about you, personally?

I am forty eight years old and not married. I don't have any children. This is a choice I made at the age of four, as well. Don't assume though that I never re-examined these choices. I thought of these things many times over while growing up; I still came to the same conclusion. I somehow knew that I could not have handled being a mother and a painter, too. My energy would have been sapped. I think that many can handle these simultaneous jobs, but I am somewhat single-minded when I focus on something still; I have not regretted my choices. I was lucky enough to meet and stay with the love of my life, and of this, I am most amazed.

Yes, it is something to have to juggle a career and family life with children. What amazes me is that a child could have made such a momentous decision at such a tender age.

I suppose that it had to be if I was to escape the trappings of society in Oklahoma. My schoolmates in the third grade were already talking about their weddings, bridesmaid's dresses, color themes, etc. At times, I felt that I held my breath until that wonderful afternoon when I graduated from highschool. It was then that I felt I could start living.

Do you do workshops?

Yes. I do workshops for The Fechin Institute in San Cristobal, NM; Scottsdale Artist's School in Scottsdale, AZ; Fredericksburg Artists School in Fredericksburg, TX; and The Coppini Institute in San Antonio, TX.

Are these seasonal workshops or are they given all year round?

They are somewhat spread out. Scottsdale in Jan.; Loveland in April; Fechin in May; Fechin in Aug.; and Fredericksburg and Coppini Institute in October.

What do you teach in a workshop?

I teach students how to see and how to translate this understanding into paint. I do not teach a technique, as such, though it could be misinterpreted as such. I have no attachment to how they paint, just that they understand what they are doing, and why it works and why it doesn't. In short, I suppose that I mainly teach craft. But as well, I hope to impart a reverence for the art of painting, of creating beauty.

Personally, I've been striving to understand this thing called "beauty". (see my article in the March issue of the Fine Arts Magazine). This is because it's such an abstract concept. If you said, "pear," or "tree", I could easily imagine such concrete things. But when you say "beauty", well, what is it? Can you define it from an artist's perspective?

Excellent question, James. It is this quest that has driven artists crazy and tormented them throughout their tortured, rich and wonderful lives.

Do you teach art and give lectures?

I do demonstrations for the American Society of Portrait Artists, Coppini Institute and always demonstrate for my students.

Are these demonstrations free or are they done within a course where a student must enroll?

One must always enroll. The organisers need to make a profit in this real world.

How often do you paint per week?

I go to the studio every day unless life forces a holiday.

How important is it to paint regularly?

It is important to paint regularly, of course, but one mustn't be rigid, for as a wise friend once said, "you've got to live life to have something to paint!"

Yes, wise advice. However, I know painters who paint almost 24/7! They never seem to quit. I suppose you would consider this unhealthy?

Well, not unhealthy, but a sure road to burning out. It is only logical that if you are always withdrawing, always taking, at some point you will deplete the source.

Do you have any plan or strategy related to organizing your life so as to be able to paint more?

I have thought of getting a personal assistant, but usually give up that thought as I realize that telling someone what to do might take as much time as doing it myself. I have always been a fast worker.

I don't understand. What would you need an assistant for?

Someone to do laundry, buy groceries, answer letters and phone calls, send in papers for shows, keep track of all that. Maybe even make the canvas, order boards, etc. Sounds wonderful as I write it.

How fast do you work? Any concrete examples?

I probably produce between 15-20 paintings a year. However, I can paint fast, as in demonstrating, I do a painting in three hours. But in the work that I do in the studio, I take more time with the set-up and in finishing the piece to my satisfaction. I could paint faster, if only I didn't want "more". It slows me down.

Are you a "perfectionist"? If so, how does this tie in with the desire to want "more".

You could say that I am a recovering perfectionist. I have let go of some of the psychological traps of this affliction and kept its sweeter side, which is the obsessive -compulsive side. It drives the energy to keep going on a painting until you get what you want.

How do you handle galleries, fulfilling gallery needs, advertising, and travel to art events.

I do all these things as they please me, which is bad advice if one wants to be rich and famous, but not if one wants to be happy.

So, happiness is more important to you?

Yes, most definitely so. When all is said and done, it is the only thing that matters. I would hate to come to the end of my life and not have had fun living it. Other than painting, the most fun that I have is conversation with friends. Whether it be laughing, heated debates, or serious discussion, it all delights me.

But what about the situation where you get a call from a gallery saying they've sold everything of yours and would you please have more work for them soon? Has this ever happened to you?

Ouch! Shhhh, maybe they won't be reading this. After many years of guilt at not supplying my galleries with enough work, I have finally realized that they carry me for the quality of my work, and that cannot be rushed. After much therapy, my galleries have all adjusted to my schedule.

What is your preferred medium?

Oil for painting.

Do you always paint in oils?

No, sometimes I use pastel or watercolor.

Do you use any specific formula to produce desired effects?

An emphatic no! I do not use formulaes as they are preconceived solutions. The fun of painting is to be alive in the moment, responding to the subject. Though I have guiding principles, every painting is approached as a new problem. This keeps the mystery alive.

Do you ever do any knife work?

Yes, quite often I will use the knife to scrape the paint thin, which brings out the texture of the canvas and makes a thin, more brilliant color. Also, I will use the edge of the knife to apply a thin line of paint, as on a stem. I will also use it to mix and apply paint, quite often on a highlight.

What type of support do you use?

I usually use board for smaller pictures and canvas for the larger work. I paint on paper if I am doing an underpainting for a pastel.

What are your preferred brands of paints?

The two brands that I use are Vasari and Old Holland.

Do you use special brushes or just buy standard products?

If there are special brushes out there, I would love to hear about them. I have recently been buying a brand called Silver Grand Prix, and they seem to be fairly good so far. I use filberts and am experimenting with extra-long filberts (not egberts, which are even longer).

The Silver Grand Prix brands of brushes are made of synthetic fibers, i believe. How do sable, hog, goat, pony, squirrel, brushes compare to the synthetic brushes? Have you tried the natural bristle brushes?

Actually, they are made of natural bristle. I have tried a synthetic bristle brush and at first it seems marvelous, however, the end of the brushstroke seems to "wimp out". Perhaps the natural character of the real thing is the difference.

Do you throw out your old brushes?

I rarely throw out brushes as they are like old friends. Instead, they either get relegated to the "seconds" can, or get the end opposite the brushes whittled down to a point to use in a painting (scratching in texture or laying on a small dot of paint). I have a sculptor friend that uses them for her patinaes, so when they are all used up, I send them to her.

Cleaning a brush in between colors can be problematic. How do you approach this?

I used to use turpentine or kerosene to wash my brush in between strokes, but this dilutes the next brushstroke as turpentine is designed to cut the binder in the paint, and each successive stroke, to me, would lose its body. Then I learned that I could develop my brush control and keep the color in the brush from mixing with the paint already in the brush or on the surface of the canvas.

What solvents do you use?

I use denatured alcohol to clean my palette as it leaves no residue. I also use this alcohol-plus-turpentine together to clean old paintings off the canvas. I let it soak for awhile and then I scrape it off.

Have you ever done watercolors and acrylics?

Yes. I used to use acrylic or watercolor as a base for pastel. Sometimes when I travel, for convenience, I will take watercolors in addition to oils.

Have you produced any major work in watercolor?

No. I would have to say that I don't have a command of the medium at all. I copied a Singer-Sargent watercolor for my Mom once and it still holds up, but I just haven't given myself over to the medium yet. Who knows? Whenever I see a beautiful work in that medium I feel inspired to try it in earnest. A friend owns an English watercolor that thrills me for its subtlety and everytime I see it, I get ideas.

When you approach your easel, do you already know what you are going to paint? Is it premeditated?

When I do a still life painting, the time composing the set-up is when I find my idea. If I do a landscape, person or interior, I must take the necessary time to see the concept for the painting before beginning, or else I am just painting things. However, as understood as the visual idea may be, the execution always holds surprises. Basically though, before I begin I have an idea that encompasses all the elements of the painting: value, color, shapes, paint quality, and edges. This guiding idea helps me determine if I am successfully painting what my mind's eye saw.

Does it happen that sometimes you have to draw sketches of a subject before committing yourself to painting it?

If I am compiling a painting from various ideas and it is not directly in front of me, I will do preliminary sketches. I have done several paintings of the Met, so those are all inspired by drawings done there.

What does the future hold? Any big projects up your sleeve?

I am presently writing a book on drawing that is instructional but not "how-to". It represents my years of teaching drawing.

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Sherrie McGraw is represented by:

Total Arts Gallery in Taos, NM;

Nedra Matteucci Fine Art in Santa Fe, NM;

Morris and Whiteside Gallery in Hilton Head, SC;

Trailside Galleries in Scottsdale, AZ and Jackson Hole, WY.

Sherrie McGraw teaches at the following Institutes:

The Fechin Institute: www.fechin.com

Scottsdale Artist's School: www.scottsdaleartschool.org

Fredericksburg Artists School: www.fbgartschool.com

The Coppini Institute.

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