This artist almost gave up on ever being able to create ‘her way.’ Instead of painting images that moved her, she was employed as an illustrator where the images she created were dictated by her employer. This was not the ‘artist’ she had envisioned being.
Renée Peterson was one of seven children. As a child she felt an undeniable creative urge that was not shared by her siblings. This made her stand out and may have garnered more attention from her artistic mother. With encouragement from her mother, Renée became infatuated with paper dolls and enjoyed drawing them herself.
Renée has always felt an “itch” to draw and at about the age of seven remembers being fascinated by children’s book illustrations and thinking that one day it would be wonderful to be able to create similar illustrations herself. As she grew older, she began drawing fashion models from catalogs. It was there that she became attracted to the human form and was particularly interested in capturing the face and hands. More than just through the eyes, she saw the entire face and the hands as, yes, ‘a window to the soul’, to the nature and character, the very essence of a person. It became important to her to capture this essence.
Over time, Renée developed a vision of the type of images she wanted to create. She acquired impressive credentials through her studies of fine art and commercial art at the University of Wisconsin, the University of Colorado, and Rocky Mountain School of (RMSA.) She was a graphic artist and illustrator at the Boulder Daily Camera before establishing a twenty-plus year career as an independent commercial illustrator.
illustration. IMAGE COURTESY OF RENEE
PETERSON
Even with her top-notch education and experience, Renée describes not receiving the guidance she needed to successfully create her own work with the ultra-detail she desired. As noted earlier, Renée has always enjoyed painting faces and figures in a realistic or representational style. However, when she began painting years ago, she relied on good photo references from which to work. Her photo references needed to be very detailed so she could create accurate and realistic images. Frustration set in as she failed to find the photographic method she was seeking. She even tried to learn how to use a camera to capture detailed images, but her efforts fell short. Her frustration grew so great that it felt like “a monkey on my back.” She told herself she would never be an artist…and even discarded all her art supplies!
But then, in the 1990’s with the advent of computer-aided design and digital cameras new possibilities were created for her art. This was the spark that re-ignited her creative ‘itch’.
With these tools she started to create imaginative images using the Illustrator program on the computer. Had it not been for using the computer to digitally create her images, she would never have been led to creating the paintings she does now.
Renée developed two distinct styles of creating. With one style the computer allows her to make shapes that can be moved around and layered. According to Renée, this style is simple, generally colorful, and is meant to be whimsical and fun. This style reflects her years of working with graphic design and can be seen on her website under, Whimsical Art.
The other style is realistic and representational. It begins with using the computer program Photoshop on detailed photographs to explore what best captures the mood that she experiences. The initial design includes the layout for placement of shapes on the canvas as well as experimenting with color choices. This design is then translated into an acrylic painting.
With each style Renée strives to instill her original emotion into the creation so that she can hold on to it and even look back at the piece again and again to be reminded of that feeling. She gets ‘cranky’ when she’s unable to create and believes in painting often.
Everything influences Renée’s creative work from colors, shapes, the way light falls on an object, and the interaction of shapes with one another. She really enjoys it when her work captures relationships or a ‘story’ that depicts human-nature interactions. She wants to capture things that make her feel happy, sad, nostalgic, hopeful or longing. When an image influences her mood, she wants to capture it. As noted earlier, Renée has always enjoyed painting faces and figures, and the realistic/representational style allows her to capture the emotion of the image.
Renée has finally been able to get back to what she enjoys most of all – painting! While not wanting to be an illustrator for life, many of her paintings still reflect that experience.
The connection Renée feels when she paints, regardless of the subject, thrills and nourishes her soul. She also feels joy when she can communicate this connection through her work so that her viewers may experience it too. To accomplish this, Renée seeks solitude and a good frame of mind. She listens to classical music or an audio book. By having something going on in the background, Renée believes that it clears her thoughts and allows the flow of her creativity.
“Aren’t we lucky as artists?” she asks. The world goes away and the work becomes meditative.
As Renée moves forward with her artistic work, she wants to create fine art paintings. By embracing her vision of painting more and by exploring new techniques she will capture and hold onto the things she sees and that stir her soul.
See more of Renée’s work on her website: reneepetersonart.com
