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Martine Alison
INTERVIEW OF THE ARTISTS REVIEW
Where does your passion for painting come from?
When I was a child, I took great pleasure in painting with the tea left in the bottom of the cups. I also painted with muddy water!
But above all, I drew. I couldn't stop drawing. Like most children, I did not have colored pencils, only a graphite pencil.
I dreamed of having a nice box of pencils. Every day, on my way to school, I stopped in front of the window of the color merchant and stuck my nose up to take a closer look at the magnificent boxes that were there...
I already knew I think I could never do without drawing...
How did your particular pictorial touch come about?
I am self-taught. I did not learn any particular technique, I would say that through hard work, perseverance, experience, curiosity, relentlessness, mistakes, I ended up developing my own technique.
I remember always drawing and painting in this style with, of course, less confidence than today. I don't know if having visited and admired the works of many artists of all styles in different museums or galleries has influenced my own style or not.
I think we are sponges. We store shapes and colors in the little drawers of our brain. Then they flow back into our work unconsciously.
However for me, I would say that my style is my writing.
Is it to tell a story that your compositions combine landscape and character?
Yes, you have understood everything! Each of my paintings tells a story... It's a delicious excursion in a bucolic setting.
My little ladies evolve in famous, realistic and fanciful landscapes.
I like to create a romantic atmosphere where small cartoon characters invite themselves and a humorous interaction of small animals... In particular my toucan, Léo, who appears on all my works.
Where do you find inspiration?
I am a contemplative. I like to dream and amaze myself in the countryside... I observe and become aware of the abundance of life that surrounds me and I draw inspiration from it to create a work in the same tune, that is to say an almost theatrical type act where the imagination can propel the scene.
I attach myself to a nature or a very colorful, very abundant decor.
My paintings are teeming with plants in full bloom, rich in color and life.
You work on drawing, lines but also light, colors and contrasts... Can you tell us about it?
My technique may not be the one I would have been taught if I had received lessons.
It is by making mistakes that I have learned and continue to learn.
After a slow elaboration of my sketch, I lead it towards a universe filled with colors and light... It is then that my little brushes enter the scene on a tune of music!... They will tickle the canvas and translate my emotions of the moment.
For fear of finding my work depressing, I do not attempt to paint covering the entire canvas.
I paint in transparency, on an established and finished drawing, so that my line does not disappear. I can paint in transparency 5 or 6 layers without you being able to guess the number. We all have our little secrets!... I paint like I cook... by instinct!
In your opinion, what gives your works this singularity, both "soft" and "powerful"?
You have to have lived, accumulated experiences, stored images, discovered freedom, found happiness and agreed to say... say with your brush... to the rhythm of beauty, the cadence of your emotions. There is no secret, there is only authenticity, you don't have to search. You have to BE... BE without reserve, without constraint.
It's life that sculpted me like this, I don't invent anything, I execute.
How would you define your style, both figurative or naive?
Although free from any influence, I place myself in the figuration, a world at the limit of the naive, between the felt and the lived.
What do you want to convey through your works?
Today, I am happy to say that I am a Painter. I paint with ardor and enthusiasm and I forget that I am "working"!
Painting is a magnificent means of communication that makes me vibrate in life while leaving a trace in my path and that I like to share.
I want my paintings to be the antidote to depression, to exude happiness. I hope to surprise, move and challenge.
Where to see/buy your works?
On the sites
https://www.singulart.com/en/artist/martine-alison-3523
https://www.artmajeur.com/fr/martine-alison/artworks
or permanently:
- Blue Heron Gallery in Cape Cod, 20 Bank St, Wellfleet, MA 02667, USA
- Roux & Cyr International Fine Art Gallery, 48 Free St, Portland, ME 04101, USA
Currently in Taiwan in Taipei, Taipei World Trade Center Hall 1, No.5, Sec.5, Xinyin Rd.
Or at the Dollhouse, my workshop in the south of France, by appointment at: +33(0)6 80 44 63 19.
What materials do you use (paint, brush, canvas...)?
Whether it was a small or large format canvas, I only worked with small sable brushes from MANET 2 and 4. Unfortunately, two years ago Manet stopped production!
After many tries I found my happiness with other brands but always small brushes. I also use 0, 00 and even 000 brushes! tiny little!
I am very demanding on the quality of the canvas.
I paint on extra-fine linen canvases on which are coated 6 layers of Gesso. Between each layer, the fabric is passed under a roller which crushes the fibers.
This process prevents the canvas from undergoing modifications.
Blockx, Michael Harding, Williamsburg are the brands I like to paint with.
What advice would you give to a beginner painter?
To stay authentic. To work as regularly as possible and believe in what you do. To let go of your brush to the rhythm of your emotions... Stay brand new in front of your canvas!
Do you have a "pro tip" to share?
I share my breakfast with my work in progress. With the brand new eye of the morning, I immediately discover what I did not perceive the day before, the small defect!
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