Artists Magazine - USA (2020-04)

ArtistsNetwork.com 71

RISKY, MESSY BUSINESS

Last year, one of MacGillis’ workshop
students, originally from Iceland,
brought some rocks from his home-
land and attempted to grind them
into paint. “Terra d’Islanda,” he called
it. The student did some beautiful
studies with his samples but was dis-
mayed at the dullness of the ground
paint compared to the original bright,
chromatic rock. MacGillis under-
scores, however, that his impulse
had been correct; in that same sum-
mer, the German company Kremer
Pigmente began their own line of
Icelandic pigments. She encourages
her students to learn and then take
risks with their own style, which
necessitates a willingness to experi-
ment and an understanding that the
practice of painting is about the pro-
cess rather than a finished product.
She insists that artists must
love the messiness of painting, and
admits that when she cleaned the
studio this summer, she discovered
a fortune in palette knives—77 that
had been missing. On a tidy day, she
has paintings on easels and walls,
and propped up on the floor. A large
board holds more than a dozen oil-on-
paper works. Large cans of brushes,
palette knives and various tools dot
each counter, table or shelf. Most
importantly, however, rows and rows
of glass jars filled with glorious colors
wait to be used in a painting. The yel-
low ochre is mixed. The palette ready.
The interview is over, and the painter
returnstoherpigments.

C.J. Kent is a freelance writer and editor,
as well as a professor at Montclair State
University. She also founded Script and
Type (scriptandtype.com), which helps
people express themselves eff ectively in
writing and in person.

LEARN MORE ABOUT MACGILLIS AT

LUCYMACGILLIS.COM.

RIGHT

Olivi a

Montecastello

oil on linen, 12x8

BOTTOM

Agosto

oil on linen, 39¹⁄₅x55