(^4) http://www.InternationalArtist.com
Challenge
Grand Prize is a four-page editorial feature in American Art Collector magazine
Lesley Thiel North Carolina, USA, Honey, oil, 36 x 25" (91 x 63½ cm)
Natural Connections
Self-taught painter Lesley Thiel has had a
wide-reaching career in art, where she first
began as an equine painter and turned to
the more classical figurative works after
eight years. Her paintings can be described
as contemporary realism with elements
of magical realism. Thiel says her style
is realistic, but it cannot be identified as
hyperrealism or photorealism.
“My style is quite tight and I work with a
relatively limited palette, which I find helps
create color harmony,” she says. “I work
with small sable brushes and sable blenders
to create an almost brushstroke free surface,
especially on the skin. The most important
element of any of my painting is the model.
I want to try and communicate their
emotions and vulnerability in my work, so
that they pull the viewer into their story.”
Theil’s inspiration comes from nature and
human’s relationship with it. “I have felt a
deep connection to the natural world since
I was a child. I think many children feel this
way. That’s why I mostly paint young girls
and young women, and tell stories of their
connection to the earth,” Theil explains.
Her current series features one model—10-
year-old Addie, who she dresses in whimsical
headdresses and collars “to express my ideas
about the restrictions placed upon girls and
their empowerment.”
Each composition begins with a single
element of inspiration and grows from
there. Sometimes it’s a flower, others times
it’s the the pose the model has struck. “I
will do a small sketch of the idea with the
flow and shapes I envision. Then I move
various elements in it, leaving and returning,
thinking and changing, until I have all the
pieces that I think are right,” the artist says.
“All too often, an idea will not work when it
is made visual, mostly because I have made
it too complicated. I find most compositions
simplify as they progress.”
My Inspiration
The inspiration for this painting was a walk
in the Mashomack Preserve on Shelter
Island, New York. There was a meadow
full of enormous thistle flowers, and many
of them were covered with bees frantically
sucking down nectar. The bees were
oblivious to us, and to the good they do
for humanity, both by pollinating and by
gifting us honey. In this painting, my model
Addie wears a crown of dead jasmine vines.
Jasmine represents appreciation and good
luck. She is surrounded by butterflies, which
are also pollinators, and which want to
share in the gift. In her crown sits a female
ruby-throated hummingbird. Symbolically,
the hummingbird is the healer and bringer
of love and joy.
My Design Process
My design begins with the figure and the
elements I know I want to include. In
this case, it was the thistles with bees, the
butterflies and the hummingbird. I wanted
the hummingbird to be prominent, but also
unobtrusive. The thistles needed to show
their glorious color, but not overpower
the composition. I chose a relatively dark
and mysterious background that creates a
V-shape around my model, and cools the
imagery. I then arranged the thistles and
butterflies in a loose, left leaning oval to
counterbalance my model’s slight rightward
tilt, while echoing the shape created by her
arms. The choice of butterfly was designed
to echo the color of the honey.
My Working Process
I work on birch panel, which I seal and
gesso, and then sand to a smooth surface.
I do a very detailed and accurate drawing.
My underpainting is with pure oil paint, and
fills in the main details of the drawing. I do
not thin my oil paints for my underpainting.
Once the underpainting is dry, I add the
detail layer using fine brushes, and soft
sables for blending. When the second layer
is dry, I return to the painting to glaze areas,
add further details, or correct areas. I premix
and tube colors I use regularly, such as my
10 skin tones, or the base shade used for the
dress in the painting.
Contact Details
» Email: [email protected]
» Website: http://www.lathiel.com
All the Prize Winners in our International
Artist Magazine Challenge No. 112
FAVORITE SUBJECTS
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