Sometimes, when an artist captures the light and colors just right, you feel transported. When you look at her work, and feel absolutely submerged in beauty, then joy fills your soul. I've got such an artist to share with you this month. Genie Maples was referred to me by one of our Artist of the Month, potter Brenna McBroom (thank you, Brenna!). When I saw Genie's work, I *knew* that Genie's work was absolutely worth sharing. It is extraordinary.

Promise

Carnival Flowers

And so. We sat down to talk with Genie about her art, and uncovered more layers - and inspiration! Here's what she had to say about art, becoming an artist, inspiration, and more...

WE:  Please tell us about your art...

GM: I use many layers of oil paint or graphite to create a sense of mood or atmosphere.  I consider my work abstract, though it often suggests something recognizable like a landscape or flowers or architecture.  I like making complex paintings that invite introspection and investigation.

A Life, Edited

The Weight of Wonder

WE:  How/when did you start becoming an artist?

GM: This is a bit of a long story.

I came to art late in life.  I had always believed I had no artistic talent.  But when I became a mother, I started doing occasional art projects with my children.  At one point, somewhere around age 40, I had bought my kids several bottles of student tempera paint and given them ice trays to mix lots of colors.  After they were done, I was left with trays of color that couldn't be saved.  I stood in the kitchen pouring the paint down the drain,  watching it swirl into running water, colors mingling into muddy beauty.  When I came to the last tray, there was a creamy yellow I suddenly couldn't bear to pour out.  I just didn't want it to disappear.  Sometimes I say it whispered to me because while the sensation wasn't something I heard, it was that kind of quiet nudge.

I think life nudges us all the time and most of the time we hardly notice.  But for whatever reason, that evening in my kitchen I listened.  My intention was just to smear some yellow on a piece of paper. I thought that would be all there was to it, but after awhile I had painted a scene depicting a naked woman crouched on a parquet kitchen floor in front of a yellow wall.  In the wall was one small, high window opening to a sunny sky.

It was one of those moments when it is suddenly clear life has changed.  The painting was not well-executed, but it had a very strong emotional component.  It expressed something meaningful without using any words, and that startled me.  I had no idea I could do that.

I sent a photo of the painting to a few women I knew from an online homeschooling forum.  One of those women asked me how much I would want for the painting if I decided to sell it.  That was another defining moment.  I realized the question she had really asked me was, "How much nerve do you have?"  and I wanted to know the answer.

So I decided to find out.  I sold the painting to her for the biggest number I could make myself say, used the money to buy oil paints, and started painting in every available moment.  I've read that it takes a minimum of 10,000 hours to really master anything.  I started putting those hours in.

Endless

She Wants

WE: What do you draw inspiration from?

GM: I think the story I just told holds the key.  While I see beauty all around me, I'm not driven by things outside myself.  I don't see a  scene and wish to recreate it.  Instead, there are some fairly complicated things I want to express about how life feels to me - circumstances, relationship, passing time, constraints, tension, isolation, communion, all kinds of things that would take huge volumes if I tried to express them in words.

Beyond that, I simply love my materials and the process of using them.  I saw a documentary years before I started down this path myself and noticed a comment that stuck with me even though I had no context for it at the time.  An artist was asked why she created, and she said very simply, "I do it for the joy of one color against another."  That is true for me too.  I draw inspiration from the process of putting one color against another and seeing how relationships enliven them.

Been A Storm

Mathematics of Memory

WE: Where are your favorite places to create art?

GM: I started painting in my dining room in front of a sunny window, with my kids in the next room.  Several years later, I moved my work into a beautiful studio.  It's a dream space, with wide windows in a red brick wall, old wood floors and high ceilings.  And it is huge.  I have space to work on enormous paintings there.  When I moved in, I felt more like a serious artist even though I had been already making my living selling art for several years.

But this summer the studio has been so hot I moved my work back home for a month.  I thought working in my living room would feel cramped and cluttered, but it has felt cozy and... well, just right.  It feels perfect to be back at the easel in my living room with my family around me, with work and the rest of my life converging again. I feel safe and unguarded here, and the paintings I've made this month feel light and sweet and absolutely full of joy.  I still love my big studio, but I will keep working on small paintings in my dining room even after the heat abates.

Bloom, off the Rose

Origin

Late Bounty

WE: What do you enjoy creating most?

GM: I love the challenge of creating very big layered atmospheric paintings on canvas.  Lately I'm also happy working on smaller pieces on wood.  The hard surface allows me to integrate pencil marks into the paintings.  I like complexity, so I enjoy merging drawing and painting.

Whenever It Comes

Ageless

Beyond the Tangle

WE: How can readers find and purchase your art?

GM: You can see my work on my website at http://www.geniemaples.com/, or at my studio in Asheville's River Arts District.  I also have prints available at http://genie-maples.artistwebsites.com.

Premise of Silence

WE: Is there anything else you'd like to share with us?

GM: Just that sometimes life whispers.  It's a good thing to listen, and it's an even better thing to answer emphatically.

Red Rises

She Likes Plums and Roses

WE: Thanks so much, Genie, for sharing your artistic life - and that amazing story of coming into your own. I LOVE your work!

For more information, please see:

artist website:  http://www.geniemaples.com/
print website:  http://genie-maples.artistwebsites.com
blog:  http://throughthefears.wordpress.com

Feature photo: Learning Love's Language.

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All photos courtesy and copyright Genie Maples.