FPAC: Can you tell us about the inspiration for your recent work:
AS: My current work is all about the ancient walls of Italy. I've been there twice in just over a year and in one super ancient hillside town with a total population of 42, I started noticing the walls all covered with moss and water stains that had been going on for centuries. The effects of time and weather made for exquisite abstractions! Last Fall I received a Visiting Artist Fellowship to the American Academy in Rome so was able to continue finding inspiration for the wall paintings and have been hard at work on them, loving every minute.
FPAC: It seems that travel and painting from life around you is a huge influence on you, why the need to capture it all?
AS: Well it's like Picasso says "Painting is just another way of keeping a diary." It's not so much I need to capture it but I want to, there is so much beauty out there. More and more of my painting is travel influenced I am struck by the light raking across a weather-beaten wall it's just breathtaking, there's nothing like
Mediterranean light! I also love the structure of the villages & unique shapes of houses. It's too cookie cutter here. In Europe villages tumble up and down hills in every shape and direction. I've been all over Europe but have developed a special affection for Italy for thousands of reasons but primarily because the entire country's underlying color is yellow ochre and all else plays off that. And so many pink houses, just fantastic!FPAC: What is your medium? Can you tell us a little about the process of your work?
AS: The medium I use depends on what I'm painting. For the Ancient Walls series acrylic works best. I have a special fondness for watercolor & gouache which I use when I travel or do plein air painting. I use oils for all else and just love them.
FPAC: What can we see next from you?
AS: Many more Ancient Wall paintings are coming up and as soon as the weather gets better I'll be outside painting as often as possible. And drawing...lots and lots of drawing.
FPAC: And your next travel plans are....
AS: Definitely to get back to Rome and Italy as often as possible. Now that I've been to the Academy I can go back anytime and so will head there. Another big plan I'm working on is, when I retire from the working world, which is soon, I hope to wander across the US and paint paint paint.
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