Friday, October 24, 2014

Inside Tori Chesley Brega's Art World

This is the start of a monthly feature where we take you inside the art world of the Girls who Just Wanna Paint! We're starting with Tori Chesley Brega, who lives on the water on the South Shore of Boston.  Welcome, and enjoy reading about Tori and her beautiful work!

Hi, Tori!  Could you describe your personal art journey?
I had the good fortune to grow up in a very creative household.  My Mom and Dad were respectively artisan and architect; decorative and functional items of many types were often designed and made by hand, along with very inventive re-purposing of all kinds of stuff.  I had great art teachers in high school, and went on to study  equal parts fine art and illustration at Skidmore College and Syracuse University, rounded out by liberal arts.  I've been a working visual fine artist  and illustrator since graduation in 1979, and also done creative work on the side in visual merchandizing, gallery, framing, and culinary field;  This not only supplemented art income, but was good discipline in, and excersize of, the creative process.  Recently I have been doing mural work, which has provided both the liberation and challenges of working  on a much greater scale, and also brought my fine art, designer, and illustration souls together at last.

What brings you the most joy while painting?
What brings me the most joy while painting are the hours when I am like a conduit through which the creative act flows like water;  All accumulated knowledge becomes like second nature and everything fits together like a beautiful finished puzzle.


 What is different (and special) about your art?
I have slowly experimented my way  through many drawing, painting, and 3-D mediums;  Each has a different strength, joy,  and lesson to teach, and seems to inform the next.  The current result is a combination of  energetic drawing with paint, layered with  glazing, on toned grounds that often include softly glowing metallic pigments.  I think storytelling content of and humor in  my work has been enhanced by time spent illustrating.   Especially with the murals, I like to create an exotic environment with characters, where the viewer can make up their own stories from what they see; like a big rectangular picture book.

Where do you get your inspiration?
I am greatly inspired by the beauty of the natural world and it's creatures, by human and canine friends and family, the work of visual artists of all kinds and periods, music, great food, film, and animation.

Where are you from and how does your background influence your work?
I have always lived near water, been by it, in it, and on it.  There is big visual magic in the constantly changing relationships between earth, sky, and water;  it is probably the most common denominator in my work.

Favorite quote/inspiration?
"For whatsoever from one place doth fall, is with the tide unto another brought, for there is nothing lost, that may be found, if sought."  from Edmund Spenser's "The Faerie Queen"


Wednesday, October 1, 2014

September Challenge: "Expression"


"Status Quo"  12'12 acrylic by Paula Villanova

"Selfie" 6x8 Inch Oil by Kelley MacDonald


"Pensive" 6x6 Inch Oil by Pamela Copeman



"Moon Indiglow" 6x6 inch Acrylic by Victoria Chesley Brega

"
MOVING FORWARD 28x28
Page Pearson Railsback


Summer memory 22"x30" acrylic on arches 300lb WC paper
by Sally Dean


"Here's Looking at Ewe"  8 x 10  oil on board by Jody Regan


"Fall Expressions" 6"X6" pastel on board by Margaret Farrell Bruno

"Abstract Watercolor of Wendell"
9x12 watercolor
Mary Sheehan Winn

February Challenge: "Norwell"

"Winter" 12x8 inches by Page Railsback "Flower Farm Greenhouse" 9"X12" oil by Margaret Farrell Bruno The beaut...