What brought you to art as more than a hobby?
My mother and grandmother are both painters, so painting and creativity have always been around me, which helped to inspire and shape my desire to develop as an artist. I don’t feel that I have labeled myself as either a hobby artist or a professional; I just paint because I can’t not paint. If someone happens to relate to one of my paintings and wants to live it in their home, then what could be a greater compliment to an artist?
What brings you inspiration to create your pieces?
Sometimes I stumble across an image of a room that inspires me; sometimes a face, a pose, an outfit, or a striking color scheme. In this era of social media, imagery is everywhere and very easy to come by. But most times inspiration comes from within; Suddenly and seemingly from out of nowhere (and not always at a convenient time), I will begin to see “flashes” of a painting slowly being built up in my mind. These flashes of imagery can take place over a period of few days and up to a couple of weeks. It’s such an amazing process to witness paintings emerging from a dark stillness within. It’s a bit like reading a really great book and with each turning of the page watching the story and characters unfold. Once the imaging process seems to have come to a completion, its time to put it to a canvas and meet the characters there.
How has the pandemic affected your painting?
As a rule I typically paint pairs of figures, but the last three paintings I have completed feature a solo figure. This fact didn’t occur to me before, but now I am thinking the solitary theme must have something to do with the lonely feelings felt by so many people around the world currently.
Your work often has a narrative element and a wistful nature of the characters. What do you think they are pondering?
For the most part, I don’t know who these characters are. As I paint the figures that live on my canvases, I try to imagine what they may be thinking. Sometimes I can hear what their story is, but most of the time, the viewers guess is as good as mine! They seem to live independently of what I think of them. I think it’s fun to guess what they may be thinking. People often ask me why my characters look so unhappy, but I don’t see them as sad, they are just individual souls caught unexpectedly in a seemingly mundane moment in time.
Explain to us your process for making a new piece of work.
After I have my general idea of what I want my painting to look like, I research elements that I want to include in the piece. I scour magazines, books, and the internet for faces, bodies, clothing, environments, animals, objects, or anything that seems to “fit in” with the imagery in my minds eye. I then assemble these pieces into procreate to create my “sketch”. It generally looks like a big hodgepodge mess, but I enjoy the challenge of making this collage a cohesive painting on canvas. Some paintings go smoothly while others require several modifications and reworking along the way.
The more you look at Cameron Bliss’s work, the more you see. Educated at the Savannah College of Art and Design, Bliss started out painting landscapes but now focuses on portraits. Her paintings mostly show women, whom she generates from her imagination and some photographic references. They meet and challenge our gaze, and the interiors they occupy, rich with plant life and pattern, contain insights into their minds and hearts. Alice Neel, Eric Fischl, and Chantal Joffe serve as inspiration in the way that they, too, use paint not to substitute for a photograph but to render the artist’s impressions of the world. Her work hangs in private collections around the world, and has been exhibited in galleries in Athens, Savannah, Atlanta, Virginia and Wisconsin. Bliss currently lives in Winterville, Georgia, where she serves on the Winterville Arts Council and is invested in empowering the youth in her community through the arts.
If I had to be alone for my birthday during quarantine, “How lovely of you to come to my party” seems like an ideal and charming setting.
This painting began as two women playing a child’s hand clapping game, with only a single dog as the other figure. Slowly the dog and 2nd girl faded from the scene transforming into a pony and a bird, but still maintaining a Peter Pan, child-like quality. Did the figure disappear due to the madness that is felt after being separated from friends and relatives for such a long time? From missing that single hug from a loved one? Has the subject refused to grow up and face the reality in the world today?
Many of my paintings seem to have a theme song that plays through my head as I work. The song “Feeling Good” was running through my mind during this painting, taking me back to time and a place before we were advised to maintain a certain distance from other humans. Or maybe the song was taking me forward to a time where we are again free to hold those who are close to us.
Living through this pandemic has changed us in ways we don’t yet realize. The vine that once lived outdoors has slowly made its way into the interior of the mind, where it will leave its indelible mark for generations to come.
Ninone
One of the things I am currently missing is traveling. I have an obsession with outdoor markets with their new and exotic smells, tastes, sights and sounds. This painting came together quite easily for me. I knew I wanted to paint this background which is based on some photos I took on Japan Surabaya in Jakarta some years ago. And then when I stumbled across this magical photo of Jenell (a muse from Instagram) as a puppeteer, I knew that she belonged as the lone figure in the painting. I love the mystery in this piece and how it makes the viewer wonder what powers she may possess; and who is the puppet?
