Carlsbad Art and Culture

1. Where were you born and where have you lived in the past?
I was born in Sicily, however, I was raised in California and have lived in the San Diego area for the last 7 years.

2. What style do you characterize your art and what palette do you use? What mediums do you enjoy?
I consider myself a representational artist. I enjoy working from life and I enjoy the challenge of recreating an image on canvas in a truthful way. I use a simple palette called the Venetian Palette. I may alter my palette depending on my subject and my lighting. I tend to add more color when I am working outdoors or on still lives, however, I try to keep my palette as simple as possible when working with the figure.

3. Who are you influenced by?
I find that exposure to any kind of art, or creative energy, helps my own to flourish. I find the most inspiration from the creativity of others. I enjoy all forms of art and though I am most interested in investigating form on canvas, I am drawn to artists that have different ways of expressing themselves; mainly through music, but also dance, theater, glass blowing, jewelry making, sewing and storytelling…to name a few. I do of course have painters from the past and present that have been inspirational and whose “techniques” I have borrowed and incorporated into my own style of working. I really enjoy American art, there is something very free (from the European classical style and religious subject matter) and honest about the work that has been done in this country. I greatly enjoy the work of Winslow Homer, Eastman Johnson, Andrew Wyeth, Mary Cassatt and the early American Landscape painters.

4. What friends inspire you?
All of them. Everyone. The smallest things can spark an amazing amount of energy.

5. What early memories do you have of being exposed to art and creating art?
I have always been interested in image making and storytelling. I didn’t really get into art until high school. I had a really amazing art teacher named George Papciak who really pushed me to explore my creative talent and introduced me to the Laguna College of Art and Design, where I received my degree.

6. When creating art, do you tell a story?
I think that no-matter what my intentions are in the end I can’t control how my work is viewed and how it will be perceived by an audience. I believe that with great art no definite story is necessary because your audience is compelled on their own to create a dialog with the piece. So yes there is definitely substance and deeper meaning behind my work, but that is something that I would most likely not want to share because I wouldn’t want to have that kind of influence over others perceptions of my work

7. Can you describe the process which you go through when creating a piece of art?
I find the greatest inspiration from those around me. I try to surround myself with interesting, happy, outgoing, creative and energetic people who continually inspire me and my work. Most of the images that I choose are observations that I have made in my own life. I prefer to photograph all of my reference material. I rarely have to stage things. When I choose someone for my work, it is usually because of something that comes naturally to them. I have noticed in the past that if I intervene too much, the integrity of my image is what suffers and in the end I am usually unsatisfied with my work because I know that the image is not as honest as it could be. Once I have a decent reference image, I begin doing sketches and just working with the image from a more technical point of view. I try to only think about what I am painting when I am brainstorming and gathering reference material. Once I start working, I try not to think about what I’m painting; I try to think about the image in simple terms: light, dark, form, hue, saturation… for example.

8. When you look for a subject, what do you look for?
Inspiration comes in strange ways. I tend to find it when I’m not looking.

9. Where do you create your art?
I work out of my home right now. I also work outdoors when painting landscapes.

10. Do you enjoy the process of creating art more than the final product?
Absolutely, once I finish a piece I usually don’t want it around me anymore. I create it and while I am creating I am also learning how to create faster and more accurately. My goal is to improve. What I paint is just the product of my investigation of light and form. If I display or sell something, that is a bonus, but that is not what I set out to do when I begin a piece.

9.What future plans do you have as an artist? What series do you might have planned?
I want to continue to grow as an artist. I am working on a series of charcoal drawings right now.

10. Where do you go to school and what is you degree and emphasis?
I will be graduating from the Laguna College of Art and Design with a degree in Fine Art degree with a Sculpture emphasis.

11. What do you feel Carlsbad can give to an artist and to an emerging artistic culture?
I feel proud to be from Carlsbad. I want to give to this community, not take away from it. I believe that the people of this town have enough pride in their community and if a more creative and artistic group of individuals were to arise, I believe it would be embraced and nurtured.

12. What change/direction would you like to see Carlsbad’s Art Scene move towards?
The challenge that I see is getting the creative people of Carlsbad to move out into the light. There are a lot of creative people in this area; they just keep to themselves. What you are doing with your website is a step in the right direction.

I would like to add that although I mainly work for myself to improve my talent, I am looking for commissions or any type of art related work. I believe that for most people the painting they most desire is one that has not yet been created. I am willing to work within a clients budget to create their masterpiece.

coming soon: candicegeorge.com
candice92008@yahoo.com
(949) 228-4220

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