“Painting is all about seeing,” oil painter Carolyn Anderson frequently notes. It’s a talking point in previous interviews, and it’s something she reiterates regularly to the intermediate and advanced art students, who attend her workshops. It’s also a concept absolutely essential to understanding her art, both in terms of creative process and end result.

“Too many of us repeat that information without thinking about what that actually means,” Anderson says. “If it actually is all about seeing, it takes on a whole new level of importance.”

Carolyn Anderson

Before the Race
Oil
12″x12″
“I like imagery with some kind of dynamic energy. This kind of tension sets up an interplay of opposing forces that makes it easier to suggest movement.”

Carolyn Anderson

Rocky Boy Dancers
Oil
12″x9″
“While I don’t paint many of these dancers anymore, it is a challenge, sometimes a rewarding one, to find the place where the excitement, the singing, and the dancing merge together through a suggestion of value pattern and color.”