TAKINGA THEMEDAPPROACH
“Igeta littlebitexcitedabouttoomanythings,soI’ve
learnedthatI needtostickwithsomethingandseeit
through,”Crimminsays.She’llmakeherselfdoa four-
tosix-paintingseriesona themebeforemovingonto
somethingelse.She’llthencirclebackandpaintmore
worksonthattheme,discoveringintheprocessthat
she’sgainedclarity.Eachexerciseteacheshersomething
newthatshebringstosubsequentwork.
Crimmin’swaterfallpaintingsaretheresultofher
explorationofmovingwater.“Iobservedhowwatermoves,
howit fallsandhow,inthecenterofa waterfall,thewater
appearsfoamier,thickerandwhiter,”shesays.“Asthewater
falls,it spreadsout,andappearsbluerbecauseI’mactu-
allylookingthroughwaterdroplets.”Byfocusingonjust
onewaterfallelement,thepossibilitiesforpaintingmatter
expand.“Icanfocusonthesunshiningonthesplash;the
splashatthebottomwhereit hitsthesurfaceandshootsback up again as foam; or the water at the foot of the falls,
where it appears a bit transparent,” the artist says.
In another recent series, inspired by the vegetation in
Joaquín Sorolla’s paintings, Crimmin explored flowers and
the intricate shadows they project onto walls. “By the end
of the series, I was paying more attention to the negative
shapes than I ever thought possible,” she says.LOOKING AND TALKING
This relentless push to learn and grow isn’t surprising once
you learn that Crimmin is a lifelong educator; she has a doc-
torate in education and taught foreign language for years. It
has only been in the last three years, since her retirement,
that she’s been able to focus more time on painting.
Art has always been part of Crimmin’s life, though. She
enjoyed drawing as a child and majored in art history in
college. She took figure-drawing classes a few decades back24 Pastel Journal JUNE 2019