Scobie, Ingrid

I create art to experience the emotional clarity I enjoy today. I relish the psychic high I feel when I mix and apply paint. My artwork is my escape from social or political concerns or personal angst, and feeds my soul on a daily basis. My ultimate goal is to produce work with a fresh and uncommon visual and emotional impact that snags the viewer.

I begin a painting with my site photographs. I draw the composition, simplify the images, and rearrange specific elements to create a new reality. In selecting a palette, I am looking for high-keyed color systems. I begin the process of watercolor washes to layer colors and create shapes and planes. The versatility and surprise elements of watercolor are marvelous for creating the surface texture and tension I am looking for. As the images develop, I turn to interesting mark-making to create textures that add three-dimensionality and interest to certain sections.

In my new body of work, developed in 2003-04, I am using my photographs of San Miguel. I am creating the work in pairs. For the first painting in a pair, I use a palette from a Matisse painting. For the second piece, I alter the composition and select my own palette. One surprising result has been the development of interesting surfaces by heavy paint layering and then lifting. The combination of this technique with more traditional methods of watercolor application plus non-local color palettes have resulted, I believe, in a new level of excitement and innovation in my painting.

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