32 http://www.artistsmagazine.com
Ober-Rae Starr Livingstone
Age 66 • Richmond, Indiana • ober-rae.com
I’ve been painting for 40
years, but only for the last
15 have I done so profes-
sionally. It’s not unusual
for me to look at an older
painting that I still have
around and decide it needs
some changes. h at’s how
Every Moment started; it came from a painting
I did 10 years ago. h e little changes I envi-
sioned led to larger and larger changes until it
became a whole new painting!
h e process of painting is one of constant
change. Sometimes that means painting over
large areas of what I’ve already completed. I
i nd that if I try to save what I’m not totally
happy with, I’ll get caught up in making lots of
little adjustments, losing the emotional process
of painting along the way. Having lots of
feeling and energy is important to me.
No amount of studying what to do or look-
ing at the work of others will teach you as much
about painting as simply doing the work. Paint
a lot. Don’t be too upset if the level of work
you’re doing doesn’t satisfy you. Part of being
an artist is a sincere desire, plus motivation to
get better at your craft. h at’s a good thing!
Remember: Find joy and fuli llment in the
process of painting. As trying as it can be at
times, be grateful. It’s a gift to be able to create
something in which others can i nd enjoyment
and inspiration. M.G.
Michael John Angel
Age 69 • Florence, Italy • angelartschool.com
After studying in Florence under Pietro
Annigoni in the late 1960s through the
early 70s, I moved to Canada—work-
ing as a portrait painter, specializing in
portraits for the boardrooms of some
major American corporations. I moved
back (permanently) to Italy in the late 1980s, and in 1997 Lynne
Barton and I co-founded the Angel Academy of Art, Florence,
of ering a three-year, full-time program of representational
drawing and painting.
Using a warm and cool grisaille (warm background and shad-
ows, with cool, gray lights) is an excellent way for the i gurative
painter to concentrate on creating the illusion of form without
the cold, rather forbidding result of a grisaille painted entirely in
grays. You can see this practice in Grisaille Nude 354.
Interpreting the human i gure through a combination of
imagination and empirical observation is for me one of the great-
est challenges of being an artist. h is challenge entails manipu-
lating and distorting the gesture and proportions for the sake of
expression while maintaining the illusion of naturalism.
Justasalawyermustlearnlawandadoctormustlearnmedi-
cine, a representational painter must learn the techniques to be a
representational painter, ideally through an academy.M.G.
ABOVE: Every Moment (acrylic on canvas, 36x48)ABOVE: Grisaille Nude 354 (oil on canvas, 15¾x11^4 ⁄ 5 )