The Magic of Making Art

Mountain View
Patrick St. Clair
Oil on canvas,  48 x 48 inches
gallerymar.com

THE ARTIST Patrick St. Clair

CREATING MAGIC “I come from a creative family, and we all were encouraged to make art from a very young age. My mother would take us to art museums. I remember being fascinated by it all: the old master paintings through Picasso and Dali. It seemed like magic to me, and I wanted to create some of that for myself.”

MOODY ROOMS “I like nature and the light of being outdoors, but being inside is nice as well; it’s a place to be by oneself. I like the introspection an interior evokes. It has space, light and form, but also an identity of whose space it is. I also like the contrast of the man-made versus nature. The interior functions as a refuge, as a retreat and as a place to create.”

LIGHT GAMES “I think shadows are a great way of creating drama in a painting. Hopper was an influence in how he uses shadow to create drama and mood. Working out the color relationships between the light and shadow is one of the best parts of the painting process. You can plan it, but a lot happens in the moment: it’s always changing.”

SURREAL SPACES “The spaces themselves are mostly imagined. It allows me to just jump in with paint and work the surface and color relationships. A surreal quality is something that I look for; real but imagined. I’d like people to see it as an experience; a place they feel like they’ve been to, or would like to go.”

NEXT Patrick St. Clair and his wife recently moved to Lyon, France, where, he says, “I’m hoping to draw on the change and the new setting to push me into new territory.”