 Portfolio of
Claire Christinel
Victoria, BC
Canada
Media Type(s):
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Oils & Acrylics
Watercolors
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e-Mail Artist
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View Artist Statement
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Gallery Direct Interview with CLAIRE CHRISTINEL
Having lived in France, much of Claire's work was inspired by the sun drenched colors and rich art history in the area. Her work is full of bold bright colour and she approaches her subject with strong compositions and interesting viewpoints. Her work includes sunny still life paintings, funky jazz music pieces, and beautiful landscapes of the coast of Vancouver Island where she now resides.
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At what age was it evident that you had a strong interest in painting and drawing?
Right from grade one I loved all forms of art. I was the child who stayed at the table building an entire plasticine farmyard, while all my classmates had wandered off to play. In grade seven, I painted cat portraits in pastel, at the request of a number of the teachers at school. By high school I was plein air painting and sketching in the park with a friend. Growing up I never tired of drawing and painting. It was a joy for me then and still is.
Was there anyone in particular who encouraged you to paint and draw when you were young or to pursue art as a career later in life?
My parents always supported and encouraged my love of art. As well, my art teachers throughout the years were supportive of my efforts and pushed my boundaries with set painting for musicals etc. It was my grade eight art teacher who expressed to me that I had talent and encouraged me to continue drawing and painting as much as possible.
Could you tell us a bit about your time spent at Langara College and what influenced your course choices?
I wanted to find a viable career in the arts and a school councilor suggested the design program at Langara. At the time the program was called Art In Merchandising, and featured three design courses - Graphic Design, Display Design and Interior Design, as well as business and marketing courses. It was a fantastic and grueling experience. Every two weeks, apart from all of our business courses, we were required to complete a design project in each of the three design disciplines, from conception to completion. Both the concept and professional execution and presentation of the project were equally important. This taught me focus, discipline, time management and timely completion.
I understand you lived in Paris for a time. Could you tell us how this came to be and if it was after you graduated from Langara College.
Yes, I have lived in both Paris and Toulouse, France. After graduating from Langara, I worked as a display artist for a number of years, and then began traveling. During a trip to Egypt, I met a fabulous Frenchman, who is now my husband. We lived in Paris, married and eventually decided to move to my hometown of Vancouver, BC. A number of years later we returned to France, with our two children, for a work contract in Toulouse. It was an incredible experience for the entire family.
How did your time in France inspire you as an artist?
Paris is a magnificent city rich in art history and culture. I visited all the museums regularly, visited Giverney and sat in the Tuillieries gardens enjoying Rodin's bronzes. I would often go to Musee d'Orsay, my favourite art museum, and study the Impressionist and Post Impressionist paintings. It was the colour, light and patterning in these paintings that really moved me. Van Gogh's self portrait, with such a wild array of colors in what appeared to be randomly patterned strokes, read abstract up close then fused into reality as I stepped back. As well as Van Gogh's work, I particularly admired the works of Monet, Dufy, Renoir and Degas. These Masters are influencing me to this day. They are pushing me to capture a quality of light, to loosen up my painting style in my landscapes, and to inject my paintings with vibrant and sometimes unexpected colour. My time in Toulouse also influenced my art through experiencing the culture of Southern France. There, the table is the center of socializing, where the love of slow food, hot sun, bright colours, good wine and friends come together. While there I collected Mediterranean table linens and hand painted pottery. These table wares with their great colours and patterning and our memorable experiences, inspire my popular still life paintings.
What formal or informal education have you found most useful during your career as an artist?
As mentioned earlier, the focus and discipline developed at Langara has impacted positively on my art development. Certainly my love of the Impressionist and Post Impressionist paintings has had a profound effect on how I see and use colour and compose my paintings. It was while I was in France that I began studying Fine Arts. Upon my return, I was influenced by artist Wendy Neilson. She encouraged me to develop my own style and to fully develop a concept. I would have an idea and paint it, and she would say, "Take that idea and paint twenty more. Use the same concept and develop a series".
What has been the biggest challenge for you so far?
Keeping on track with my goals for my art career is always a challenge. It's one thing for me to produce the paintings, but it is another issue to market them. I have formed a mentor group with two other artists, and we get together about once a month. We are all painters, but work in different mediums and genres, are at completely different levels in our art careers, and are totally supportive of each other. We show each other what we've been painting, discuss our goals and plan how to attain them. We often help each other with our presentations or important submissions. Connecting with these peers, rather than being an island is an important aspect of my art life. With a lot of 'alone time' during my creative process, it is important to celebrate and share our successes and friendship.
Your Jazz series is very different from your other work. Could you tell us how this series evolved and what inspired you to do it?
My husband is a tenor saxophonist who plays with a Jazz Big Band, so I'm immersed in jazz music. This series entitled the "The Architecture of Jazz” is my interpretation of the structure of jazz music. Much like painting, each musician develops an individual style. They play together as a combo, but as they launch into improvisation they enter their own musical space, symbolized by the tilting doorways, which move to the riffs and grooves. The canvases are textured and the colours bold and layered, depicting the texture, colour and depth of jazz music. I created a semiabstract style, as improvisation is an abstraction of the original melody. By painting with a palette knife I was able to interpret my ideas in a looser style. I drew my inspiration for bright colour and patterning in the strokes, from my love of Van Gogh's self portrait.
What are your favorite pieces of work you have done and why are they your favorites?
I can usually look at my paintings after completion and find things that I would like to change, but I'm quite pleased with these three. "Backstage Bebop" from my jazz series, is one of my favourites. My husband posed at the bottom of our basement stairs while I sketched him, then I changed him into an imaginary bebop character. What intrigued me was the viewpoint looking down the stairs, the light and shadow, and the patterning of all of the geometric shapes in the painting. I feel I successfully captured the feeling of the Bebop era in this painting. In terms of art accomplishment, my jazz series is the most important for me, as it is ambitious in approach and composition. The theme of still life painting has been a major focus for me and in this series one of my favourite paintings is "Three Amigos". This painting captures the hot sun, the feel of an everyday table, and evokes memories of good food and friends - a way of life I am enamoured with. The colours, light reflections and shapes of the Mexican patterns in the bowls are almost abstract. And finally, "Oranges Reflected" plays homage to the traditional still life genre, with the modern twist of a bird’s eye view of the table. Observing the reflections of the oranges in the smooth glass bowl, with the textured beaded centerpiece below, triggered my desire to interpret this image.
What role do you think your emotions play in the creative process?
Emotions play a large role in my creative process. In order to paint an image I have to have an emotional reaction to what I see. I most often react to colour and light and I desire to instill an uplifting and joyful feeling in what I create.
What do you enjoy most about being an artist?
Just the sheer joy of making art. When I see something that grabs me visually, I immediately start developing a composition in my head, and figuring how I would interpret that in paint. Also, as stated by other artists before me, I enjoy being engaged in the Zen of painting, where hours fly by unnoticed.
With your experiences in mind, what advice would you give an aspiring artist?
Well, I feel like I have so much to learn myself. I learn with every painting and hope that it will always be that way. So I think my only advice would be to strive to paint or draw as regularly as possible. Frequency really develops your ability to see and interpret. Draw inspiration from the Masters, and work on developing your own style and theme so that people recognize that work as yours.
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