South Wirral Art Society
Visit to Anita Young’s Studio 8th June 2010
Members may remember Anita Young and her demonstration on the 23rd February this year. Her wildlife and pet animal pastels, and particularly her wolf paintings are a joy to see and very detailed. Anita left us with a standing invitation to visit her studio in Warrington – Painted Feather Studio - and that invitation was duly taken up by a small delegation from the Society which included the Chairman, Secretary and Interim Treasurer. This article shares our experience.
Anita’s studio is situated in Stockton Heath, just off the busy commercial centre of the village. There are three galleries in the village, underlining the importance of this location as a centre of artistic activity with lots of potential for future exhibition of work. Members may remember that when Anita visited us she had only recently succeeded in finding a studio, so her current location is relatively new and she is still establishing herself. Her business strategy involves building up her portfolio of paintings for exhibition and sale, but at the same time establishing a photographic print and cards business, to give her the necessary cash flow while the portfolio builds and she establishes her name. As a professional artist the challenge is to have both an artistic and a business head. There is a lesson for all of us that might have aspirations. Part of her time is spent building the much needed networks and contacts, and we are proud to be one of those contacts and we can be of mutual benefit to each other.
Anita’s studio has a number of rooms, all of which reflect her intense interest in nature, wildlife (wolves especially), and Native American culture. They include; an office duly fitted out with the usual IT and communications, a display/client room with examples of work and projects, the main studio itself with her art work at one end and a work bench at the other, and finally a small kitchen and a separate WC. The area around is quiet, despite being so close to the shopping centre, and the studio’s North/South orientation ensures the sun on one side in the morning and on the other side by the afternoon.
This is a little piece of heaven, and Anita seems to love the environment and benefits from being able to work away from home in a professional environment. This is her ‘job’ and going to the studio is like going to the office and gives a certain discipline to work. Another lesson – how often do we as individuals drift into doing something other than paint simply because we are working at home?
Anita was a gracious and generous host – mugs of tea and biscuits all round – and we are grateful that she gave up her time to host us. We wish her all the best with her venture and this is the one occasion when we don’t want to keep the wolf from the door!
The invitation remains open – if members wish to visit – make contact with the Secretary and something can be arranged.
In between times here are contact details;
Anita Young
Painted Feather Studio
Rear of 1 Grice Street
Stockton Heath
Warrington
Cheshire
WA4 2UW
Tel: 01925 602265
Email: studio@paintedfeather.co.uk
Web site: www.paintedfeather.co.uk
Peter Appleton
Secretary.
SWAS Art Demonstration 23rd Feb 2010
Anita Young – Painter of the Natural World Demonstration of a Chaffinch in Pastel Pencil
“It is not about – isn’t my painting beautiful it is about isn’t this animal beautiful?”
I start this write up with this quotation from Anita on the night, because this more than anything sums up her philosophy. Two great driving forces seem to exist for Anita – one being her passion for nature – the second being her organisational ability. The combination of this passion channelled through her meticulously constructed framework produces immensely detailed, realistic and accurate paintings which still display her passion for the subject.
Anita usually works on a horizontal surface, but had thought about her audience and switched to a vertical surface, and circulated an image of her subject to the audience, to make her detailed work easier to follow; a thoughtful and welcome innovation.
There are several key stages in Anita’s approach;
- Looking at and studying the subject. For Anita this involved studying form and behaviour to improve understanding and to get her in the right frame of mind.
- The next stage involved meticulous preparation. Choosing colours, making a colour chart and a plan.
- Using a grid to ensure accuracy and scale, and from there working on the outline before building up the body layer by layer from dark to light.
- Always following the flow of the fur or feather.
- Anita has, for now, chosen not to include backgrounds in her animal portraits, but she does paint landscapes etc. and will over time blend the two areas together.
To finish I cannot do better than repeat the four key words that govern Anita’s approach;
- Observation
- Preparation
- Patience
- Attention (to detail)
I can’t lay claim to more than one or two of those, but in Anita we saw them personified.
Thank you Anita and to the members and the one guest who braved a snowy night in February to experience this lesson in approach as well as technique.
Peter Appleton.
