ArtistsNetwork.com 61rich, bright color,” says Wright. (See
the Blooming Wild demonstration,
pages 64–65.) “Much of it may get
covered up, but some will peek out.”
The first layers are often warm ones.
“Based on my watercolor background,
I know that an underpainting of yel-
lows or reds can lend
a glow to the final painting,” she
says. “I put in some darker colors, too,
knowing that, with acrylic, I can
come in with lighter colors on top.”
Wright rotates the paper a number
of times as she progresses, building up
color and structure until she sees
a painting emerge—sometimes
representational, other times more
abstract. She uses Gator Board as a support, and work-
ing on an easel allows her full movement as she creates.
“I work freely, intensely and intuitively, without neces-
sarily looking at the still life itself, just referencing what
I remember and feel,” she says. “I’m making chaos—I’ll
be the first to admit it—but I have to trust the process.”
As Wright works, she keeps in mind various lessons
she has been taught about composition: “Don’t place
something smack in the middle. Don’t have arrow-type
shapes leading off the corners. Add a visual path. Think
about the golden mean; does that have any bearing
here? Consider the picture plane as a whole: Is the eye
moving around it, or is there one shape or mark that
stops the eye? Don’t lock in a shape, but keep shapes
interlocked—that’s a challenge,” Wright says. “If I’ve
done all of those things, or at least most of them, I’m
pretty sure I’ve got a good composition.”“The setup for this
painting was such
a departure, more
minimalist,” says Wright
about Consider the Lily
(acrylic on canvas,
36x48), which she
painted in winter toward
the end of the season.
“I was so excited about
springtime fl owers that
the painting got more
and more represen-
tational, as I was so
focused on catching the
freshness of the fl owers
and the intricacies of the
stems in the vases.”