My Painting Story
October 1, 2019 – Written by Bethany Fields
I’ve been involved in art in some form all my life. From piano to guitar lessons, playing the oboe (into college), majoring in theatre arts, studying dance and voice, stage combat, you name it, I tried it. (Yes, even twirling). My parents were generous and so supportive of my interests and I had a wonderful, creative childhood.
I sang, acted, and danced professionally after graduating and then marriage and children became my new passion. I am so blessed to get to stay home with my kids, while working in my studio. I wouldn’t trade a day of raising them and being home on a daily basis.
I’ve worked in California as an on-air personality and designer for a scrapbooking/creative web series, had a photography business, had a children’s jewelry line, and was involved in several book projects. I love art, I love creating, period! I’ve always felt a great need to create, make, and do.
I never studied painting but was immersed in color theory when in my set, lighting, and costume design classes. I learned so much about composition through photography! Working in Hollywood helped me refine my design skills and abilities in front and behind the camera. Everything feeds something else, especially in the arts.
I first picked up pastels somewhere around 2008. I had no idea what I was doing but fell in love with a piece I purchased off Etsy. This little figurative painting was painted by an Israeli artist and I adored the sumptuous colors and beautiful qualities of the pastel. (Sadly, I can’t find this artist anywhere, the signature is ilegible, and I don’t remember her name! One reason to always legibly sign your work…
This little mother and daughter is painted on a piece of grocery sack and I have it in my studio – a constant reminder of what first inspired me. I had never imagined being a figurative painting and when deciding to step out into learning this medium, automatically wandered over to the field of landscapes. I didn’t know where to learn, who even knew about this stuff called “pastel?” A quick web search brought me to the forums on wetcanvas.com and I read and poured through the information. I got brave enough to order some Terry Ludwig pastels (my first set of artist grade pastels), and started using papers of different grits, etc. My children were 1, 4, and 8.
I don’t know why exactly, but I packed those pastels away after playing with them for about a year. Probably because I was an exhausted young mother with limited space and resources and recognizing the gap of where I WAS and where I wanted to BE became too painful. I continued to raise my children and grew a photography business on the side (into full-time) where I photographed babies, children, families, weddings, seniors, and also commercial work. I love photography! I put it away as a business around 2016 but continue to photograph as a hobby and love to teach others how to photograph their work, studio, and home.
Flash forward to 2014 and a summer that was challenging on several levels. I needed an outlet of creativity. Those pastels stashed in my deep dark closet came to mind and I drug them out to begin…something. Sitting on the floor, with a piece of scrap paper taped to a piece of cardboard, I draped a towel over my lap and picked up a pastel.
I painted a tree. And then another…
I haven’t stopped in all these years since…years of daily paintings, broken pastels, chalky hands, successes, failures, exhibits, friends. If not for that very hard summer when I needed a creative outlet, would I have chosen to pull them out? I think yes, or I hope so! I guess it doesn’t matter because I did, and thank goodness. I need them as they need me.
I’ve painted almost everyday since and find the more I work, the more I need to. They call me & beg me to create. Without hands they are limp and useless, their color as bright and fresh as ever, but lifeless. An artist picks up the tool and sparks of magic happen in the ethereal. Our hands, our eyes, our hearts…these make the tools fly, giving them wings and roots of joy.
We are the most blessed of all, to get to play with these little bits of colorful beauty. My artistic journey went here and there, and continues to weave a tapestry…I am so thankful.
xoxo,
Bethany
