‘Reflections’ on the Painted Ladies first anniversary

Australian artist Marie Green, along with the group of painters who call themselves the Painted Ladies, are featured at the Town Square Gallery in the Carrs Mall in Wasilla from 4 to 7 p.m., Sept 10, with a reception and demonstrations. The title of the show, “Reflections,” celebrates their first year as a group.

BACH: Tell me how you became a Painted Lady?

GREEN: I was invited by Talya Johnson (of Alaska) as she conceived the Painted Ladies, and although I was a hemisphere away she felt I would belong and I have.

BACH: Has Talya Johnson visited you in Australia?

GREEN: Not yet; however, we plan a reciprocal exhibition in my state in 2014 during which she will also bring her (family) to soak up the sunshine and enjoy the other side of the world.

BACH: When will you be arriving for the Painted Ladies show?

GREEN: I arrived (recently) in Wasilla and tomorrow am going down to a log cabin beside a glacier to paint with my fellow Painted Ladies for a few days.

BACH: Have you visited Alaska before?

GREEN: This is my first visit to Alaska. It was on (my) list, though I expected not to come for such joyous reasons, rather purely as a tourist. I arrived on Monday, the 29th August. Talya Johnson and I had a most successful two-woman exhibition, “Heaven and Earth,” in Anchorage at the end of that week.

BACH: How does a typical day as an artist differ because you live in Australia?

GREEN: I rise to meet the early morn with the sound of kookaburras laughing across my land. Tom, my beloved husband, brings me yogurt with fresh fruits from our orchard and a cup of English breakfast tea. After the morning fun, I take a swim in our pool then bathe, generally don a sarong and make my way to the studio. I process the nocturnal dreams I have been sent during the night and spend the day pacing to and fro before the throne of my easel. I estimate I walk about five kilometers a day in this pursuit. I rest from time to time in order to recharge and to check that my muses are pleased. … So you ask how does it differ? It differs not, for my soul is international.

BACH: How important is networking with other artists to you in your career?

GREEN: It is important for those whose work needs champions and for artists who need to chat and play with their fellows. For me, I am mainly a hermit on my hill painting five days a week, and the less interruption the better.

BACH: I see lots of colorful pieces in your portfolio. Is that style your favorite?

GREEN: I live in a land of blinding sunshine and therefore vibrant colors. What may appear as colorful works to those whose eyes are accustomed to gentler gradations, to me appear as true reflections.

BACH: What are some of the biggest rewards in your career?

GREEN: Money and then more money. But ahead of that is being able to hopefully leave in peoples’ homes or workplaces something of beauty and joy to perhaps counterbalance the vast ugliness that pummels one’s eyes and deadens one’s senses. Art is to bring beauty and therefore ugly works are not art? They are the cheap five-minute shock value of ungifted, money-hungry thieves. I give you the example of a floating dead shark in a glass cage!

BACH: What honors have you received?

GREEN: Honors I have but few. Rewards I have a-plenty.

BACH: I read on your website at mariegreen.id.au about the grant you received for artwork reflecting 100 years of Queensland Life. Tell me about that work and the style you are painting.

GREEN: My ambition and passion is to find and paint 100 years of everyday activities specific to an era and region in Queensland from 1895 to 1995. I do not want the old ways to be lost, I want them to live in a way that comes alive for the seeker. So the earlier paintings in this body of work are of a gentler softer chroma as befitting the elderly voices that tell of the activity and the faded photographs that befit the times. As the years grow closer to our own, so will the chroma rise to meet the excitement of modern days.

BACH: What advice do you have for new painters?

GREEN: Do not cheat on yourself. Share knowledge as you receive it. Do not make mud with your oil paint. Learn first how to mix beautiful colors. Study technique and method so that when you get to a point of selling your work you will be sure it will last and therefore continue to give pleasure for many decades.

Suzanne Bach, fine arts coordinator at Mat-Su College and guest writer for the Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman, can be reached at creative@alaska.com.