Today we’d like to introduce you to Linda Packard.
Linda, please kick things off for us by telling us about yourself and your journey so far.
Long range planning has never been my strong suit. There have been meanderings down side paths and a few big leaps of faith taken along my way. I arrived in Boston with a BA in Studio Art from Smith College, keen to be a printmaker and to study book arts. A librarian by day, I made prints (mostly etchings and collographs) on nights and weekends, did lots of life drawing, studied typography, papermaking and bookbinding. The dream of having a small poetry press was recurring. After a few years, I moved to the country, apprenticed at a small press, taught drawing, made art, travelled some, and always seemed to find library jobs to keep me afloat.
When I married and had my son, my focus shifted to raising him and giving him every opportunity, I could. By this time, I had combined my art skills into a graphic design practice which allowed me to work mostly at home for his early years. Life was full and art got tucked away for some 15 years.
Then a serendipitous encounter with a life drawing group reignited my passion. It was like running into an old friend and just picking up at the last conversation. And I was set again on the art-making path, albeit in spare moments while working full time and raising a teenage boy.
By 2006, my son was launched and my nest was empty. Long weekends were spent painting. In 2009 I decided that to really grow as an artist, I needed to paint every day. So, I took the leap, left my job, and never looked back. A one-week workshop that summer with the late Boston painter, Jon Imber, in Stonington, Maine, marked the beginning of my love affair with expressive, juicy oil paint and plein air painting. I’ll be forever grateful for those transformative week-long workshops that continued until his death in April 2014, and for the enduring relationships formed within that group which continues to gather there every summer on the same week.
Can you give our readers some background on your art?
Until recently, I painted almost exclusively en plein air. My interest was not to record the scene as much as express its essence. It was the challenge of painting wet on wet and the engagement of all the senses that kept me going back. Last year I started experimenting with new materials in the studio: acrylic, gouache, inks, oil sticks, rice papers, making rubbings, textured prints, and collage. The process of working in an unplanned, responsive fashion was exhalating to me. Soon I began incorporating the same organic process into my paintings.
Now I work mostly in the studio. Totally process driven, my interest is in pushing the physical properties of the paint, mixing media, and exploring the play of opposites: warm/cool, thick/thin, transparent/opaque, textured/smooth. While I rarely have an intentional subject, sometimes I will start with the marks or palette of a landscape memory just to get something down to respond to. All traces of that beginning are usually gone by the time the work is done, but the feel of a landscape often remains, perhaps because nature has been my subject for so long.
The abstract quality of my works encourages each viewer to have a uniquely personal interpretation and emotional response. Seeing that happen or hearing about it is very exciting to me as the maker.
In your view, what is the biggest issue artists have to deal with?
As an artist how do you define success, and what quality or characteristic do you feel is essential to success as an artist. For me, it’s being able to live the artist’s life every day, with little compromise. I had to pare down and simplify a lot to make it happen, a liberating experience in itself. Making art feeds my inner being, cleanses my mind, and brings me joy. If I’m fortunate enough that someone sees a work and loves it or buys it, then it feeds me again and brings me still more joy! It seems to me that if one cannot imagine having a better life, then surely that’s success. If I had to pick one essential characteristic for success as an artist I think it would be the discipline to show up, every day.
What’s the best way for someone to check out your work and provide support?
My work is represented by Courthouse Gallery Fine Art in Ellsworth, Maine. This season I have a solo show from August 15 -Sept 15, including paintings and mixed-media,
Instagram is where I post, almost daily, work in progress, sketchbook pages, and other practice-related imagery. My website is the best place to learn of upcoming exhibits, workshops, and demos throughout the year. I’ve taught workshops and participated in invitational group shows and juried shows in the metro Boston area including Concord and Rocky Neck, and outside the area including The Painting Center in NYC.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.lindapackard.com
- Email: lrpackard@yahoo.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/linda_packard/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/linda.packard.35
Image Credit:
Artwork: Ken Woisard Photography
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