We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Christine Sargent. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Christine below.

Christine , looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Can you talk to us about how you learned to do what you do?

How did I learn to do what I do?

I tried to learn realistic painting in college. After a few years, I left college with a sense of failure in my quest, The teachers were not teaching what I wanted to learn. I found a private art school called Mission:Renaissance. This is where I truly began to learn how to draw and paint. Their program was very exact in all the steps to learn to draw and then paint. I learned a lot of how to get the realism I’d wanted. One of the steps as you progressed was to copy the masters. I painted a Rembrandt portrait and some impressionists paintings. Great old school way to learn how to paint.
Quite a few years later I met an artist who told me she could teach me how to do realistic paintings. What I had dreamt to be able to do for years. I learned some new helpful ways to draw with more exactness. I learned color theory that I never imagined before. It was what made the difference in my art. It was at her class (a 6 week full time class in another part of the country than where I lived) that I had the “realization” that I was an artist and I could paint anything.

I was kind of stuck in this teachers viewpoint about what is good art, and got quite narrow minded. She did not think that impressionists were real artists, abstract was just wrong. Hahaha Thank god I finally popped out of her personality and was myself again and saw that beauty is beauty. Of course we all have our opinion as to what we like, but now it was my own opinion. Gosh, I love the Impressionists; some of my friends and others do amazing abstracts. Tha was actually a good thing to learn. To have my OWN viewpoint.

“I can paint anything” as i was speaking of before, did not really turn out to be true. There have been times that I needed to bite the bullet and study some artists techniques in order to be able to paint certain things. I really was so stubborn. “I can paint anything;” why am I having so much trouble with this??”” I believe we as artists are ever growing, learning otherwise we will be contracting.

Knowing what I know now, I could have sped up my learning process incredibly if I had just drawn and painted a lot lot more. I was always working another job and that kept me feeling safe financially. I was never really willing to make a living with only my art. I don’t see that as wrong if only I had spent a lot more time working on my craft. Sometimes I would get a commission and it would take me 6-9 months to finish it. I was not putting in the time. An artist should probably draw daily.

The main skill that I believe is most essential as a realistic artist is drawing. Even if you’re doing abstract, I believe that being able to draw well is essential. Panting to me is essentially drawing with a ;brush. Then next is learning all about color.; warm and cool colors and how they work in nature, how to mix any color, knowing the color wheel with all the browns and grays. An important few thins are knowing how quality of the paint can make a big difference in your work, how the quality of your brushes help to control the paint better.

The obstacles that stood in the way of my learning well were things like how to find a good teacher, I guess after my sad experience in college, I was not sure if I could do any better. Nowadays there are so many teachers and artists who give workshops. You basically just need to look at their work on line and decide if you want to learn that. I had no such resources when I was younger.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I am a fine artist. I mostly paint and draw portraits. My painting medium is high quality oils (because they behave better than cheaper oil paints). I did many children paintings, then I began getting asked for pet portraits. I am very happy to paint peoples beloved pets. Currently I seem to be doing more of this than anything. My work is what I call realistic, though it is not photorealism.

my story
I apparently was interested in art from an early age, according to what my mother said years ago. I did not really have a conscious awareness of it, though I do remember enjoying doing things in school and even in nursery school. My earliest big feeling of success was around the first grade. I painted a picture of Santa Claus and I was so happy that it really looked like Santa Claus. My teacher put it up behind her desk and kept it there for a long time. I even remember wondering where it went when it was no longer there. Much later I thought she must have liked it so well she kept it. That felt like a high compliment.

My real awareness that I had a bit of talent was not until junior high school. We were painting the assignment and i looked around at some of the other students paintings and realized mine was pretty good. Kind of a funny way to realize I am interested in pursuing art, but that was when i decided to make it my major when I got into high school.

When I was in my senior year of high school, I started asking my friends if I could draw them. That was fun. I was ok at it.
I actually went around saying to all my friends that I wanted to be a “monkey artist”. Sadly I gave up the idea because I knew there was no way I could get the photos I would need to do good paintings without having lots of money to go on safaris (mind you ;this was in the early 70’s and there was nothing like the internet). I gave up the monkey artist idea and chose to be interested in people. On retrospect I find that very funny.

I’d hoped college would be my source of valuable help in improving my art. I know just the fact that I was doing art was always helping, but my college in the 70’s was not a great source of information on realism. I wanted to be a realistic artist. My college days seemed to prove that the drug culture had an effect on what was considered good art. None of my teachers really taught realism except the figure drawing classes. I always felt that I was supposed to take drugs and go into the darkest recesses of my mind and paint what was there (which I was not willing to do, though I did do a couple weird paintings). At one point my teacher said if I didn’t know what to paint, I should do a self portrait. THAT was a great idea. I had a face to look at in the mirror whenever i was wanting to paint. This was a turning point in my viewpoint. I saw I enjoyed getting a likeness in oil paint. I saw I was not bad. the teachers were really not able to help me with this, so I just worked it out myself.

I ended up not finishing college as it was not really helping me.

on leaving school, I went on to an illustrious career as a waitress.

My interest in portraits and painting both children and adults led me to start doing commissioned portraits. I thought maybe that was the way to make money as an artist. I started doing that after I had studied with 2 great teachers for several years. Larry Gluck and Libby Berry. Sadly both are no loner alive. (Larry Gluck’s school still exists.; Mission: Renaissance in California and Texas.). They gave me the tools I needed to go forward.

I have tried many mediums, but my favorite are oil paints and pencil. I can manipulate them easier, correct easier, and make good work with them.

Though very part time, I did get enough art going to get myself somewhat known in my circle of friends and acquaintances. I was know to say “When I grow up, I want to be an artist.” In my line of work that would sometimes bring interest on the part of my customers. Then I would give them my card. I was not shy. That helps. I was willing to tell anyone that I was an artist, and show them a few pictures. My works had gotten good enough to show people and that would sometime bring work.

I put on a number of art shows at my home. I created a gallery-like atmosphere and invited other even lesser know artists to help get them more known. That was fun. That is probably one of the things I am. proud of about myself. I wanted to help other artists. One year I was asked if an acquaintance’s teenage granddaughter could be in my show. Man she out sold almost everyone. Practically all her paintings sold. I almost got jealous until I remembered my purpose (helping other artists). People loved the shows. Even if I did not sell a lot of my original work at the shows, I had lots of sales of the fine prints I had made. High quality prints on archival paper make a nice and affordable thing for people to buy.

The home shows were a good venue. People liked the personal-ness of them. It was a bit of a party. Wine and yummy snacks kept them there and looking more. I promoted a lot and way in advance in order to get people there. I had all kinds of tricks to make it more enjoyable My street was always filled with cars, so I hired someone to drive people back and forth from their vehicles to a little parking lot I used.

I was in several shows that were put on by others. I had a very useful way to grow my mailing list. I had a drawing (at the end of the show, I would pick one name out of the jar). The sign I posted asked the attendees to pick their 3 favorite paintings and fill out this little form that I made that asked for their contact info. I mailed a print of the winner’s favorite painting to them. It was a great way to get people looking at all my work. And I ended up with many contacts by the end of the show. In those days I got addresses and email addresses. I mailed out postcards to all of them whenever I finished a new painting. It was a great way to promote.

I must say that one

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

Many years ago I was commissioned to paint a bride and groom. I got part way through and was very dismayed that I could not (in my estimation) do this painting. I gave up! In fact I concluded that I was not really an artist and “threw in the towel.” I have actually given up many times. Completely decided I was not able or good enough to be an artist. I must say that we can really hurt ourselves by what we tell ourselves. Its hard to avoid sometimes, but if you just take a really long walk, look look look around at everything around you and get out of your stinking, unhelpful head. Sometimes it takes an hour but if you keep looking out, and don’t do a lot of thinking, you will find it is just self-invalidating thoughts and not really you; not the truth. If you have the desire to do art, YOU ARE AN ARTIST! Just got to drop those thoughts that stop you. THE people who had commissioned me to paint the bride and groom wrote to me and said “Don’t worry, well wait.” At that point in my career they had more confidence in me than I did. But I still run into those types of thoughts. Just have to throw them away. Now with many years of painting, I at least recognize the phenomena, and once in a while I start to fall for it.

I did finish the Bride and groom and they were very happy with it.

What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?

For years now I have felt I have a duty (or something akin to that) to help make the world a better place with my art. When I am working on one of “my paintings,” as opposed to a commissioned portrait, they quite often entail interactions between people that show love. I am drawn to that theme. I even do my best to show the love it in my pet portraits, though this is mostly by my putting my whole heart into it and capturing the soul of the person or animal that I am painting. I even say to myself when I paint “they are going to love this.” I do that often. I find it seems to make me even better.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.christinesargent.com
• Instagram: chrisarge52
• Facebook: Christine Weeks Sargent ; or Christine Sargent Fine Art

Image Credits
All my photos