Neonjade

Life is good for Alabamian artist Angela True. “I pretty much do what I want, when I want to. I’ve found that if you learn to want to do the things you have to do, it makes life so much better.” A warm, centered and very spiritual Angela shared with me some of her life’s wisdom as we toured her home; inspecting the paintings she currently has available. Her paintings enhanced her words in beautiful echoes, probably because Angela has found much of her way through life by working through confusion, inspiration, frustration and excitement in the mediums she knows best: acrylic and latex paint.

Eleven years ago, facing a challenging time of growth in her life, Angela prayed to God for guidance and received inspiration to paint for the first time. The result was a series of fifteen paintings that Angela calls her “soul paintings”. In them, she searches out the boundaries of her belief system and the elements in the world that move her emotionally. The paintings appear elementary in composition but are deeply emotional in their content. In her pictorial telling of ancient myth, you can feel your troubles burning away as your spirits are raised with the embers that form the stars of heaven.

While Angela stopped painting for several years after completing her soul paintings, she kept several of them: reminders of the feelings of inspiration and release that helped her through challenging times. Even though her work has matured in the past few years since picking up the brushes again, she still keeps most of the soul paintings hanging in place, while new work rotates around them like a meandering assembly line. She relies on the feelings that they invoke. Like her Ocean Wave soul painting that calms the work room where she paints. When she’s feeling a little manic, she says it helps ground her so that she can create. On the other hand, when she’s feeling a little low, this painting interacts with some upbeat tunes she turns on to bring her back to center.

Angela’s work room is her home’s laundry room. Cabinets on one side, washing machine and drier a few feet over on the opposite wall, it’s more like a short hall than a “room.” It is a cheerful area though, with her soul painting appearing with the closing of the door and her current work scattered on the counter top. It’s bright, too, with white walls, a window on each side of the cabinets and two large florescent lights in the small space. No chair or stool gets in the way, either. Angela has some back and hip problems that are exacerbated by sitting for prolonged periods so she paints standing up.

Art is now a regular and featured part of Angela’s life. She has studied with other local artists and her work has grown in variety, detail and vision. She enjoys collaborative efforts, and the paintings she creates when working in groups seem to soak up that perspective beyond her normal purview, such as the beach scene to the right.

She has even added a couple of new mediums to her artist’s tool chest. Latex house paint helps her get the texture and depth of thick layers she loves in her abstract work, and just recently she’s experimented with oil paint, as shown in the landscape to the left. I asked her what she liked and didn’t like about oils, in comparison to her acrylics. She likes the ability to scrape away mistakes but finds oils harder to work with. While some artists work in layers, Angela prefers to start and complete a painting in one sitting. Slow drying oils provide more of a challenge to work in this manner.

Speaking of learning new skills made me ask if she had any advice for young people who thought they might like to pursue the path to becoming a professional artist. Her answer was quick and simple, “study art as much as you can in school, and get another job, too!” I’ll be posting an article at Associated Content about our discussion concerning learning how to draw new things and sources of inspiration for the working artist.

Angela True’s art has been displayed in her local area at Madison City Hall and at the Huntsville Art League (HAL). She’s currently applying to The Arts Council (TAC) to show some paintings at the Von Braun Center, including the tree lined path paintings shown to the right and below. Currently, Angela’s work can be viewed and purchased at The Sidewalk Arts Stroll in Huntsville, Art on Main in Madison, The Monrovia Art Fest, Athens Art on The Square, or by contacting Pick My Brains Art at 256.233-3690. You can also read about her latest art shows and events at pickmybrainsart.blogspot.com.

All artwork pictured in this article Copyright 2008-2009 Angela True.