Artist Lyndall Bass finds her identity in still life and figurative painting, creating images that convey a subtle narrative left open to the viewer’s interpretation. To learn more about this artist, visit her website.
“Being” Oil on Canvas, 16” x 20”
I was born wearing a painter’s apron and a little black beret. Soon, I was creating dinosaur murals for my elementary school. In high school, with the help of my family, I exhibited at outdoor art fairs before happily shipping off to art school in Philadelphia.
“Hollyhock Fireworks” Oil on Canvas, 20” x 23”
At the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Art, I grew from a budding artist into a practicing studio painter and technician. Suddenly orphaned by the early deaths of my parents, I realized I really needed to make a living somehow and left the Academy after my third year.
“Red, White & Blue” Oil on Canvas, 10” x 10”
I chose Indiana University Bloomington as the painting department was run by artists from New York. Besides, I wanted to live in that beautiful Indiana countryside.
“Cranberry Blossoms” Oil on Canvas, 11” x 14”
At Indiana University, I learned to be accountable for what I chose to paint and why. I found my identity in still life and the figure. While I loved being in a landscape, I was no good painting it. Art history gave me insights about what thrilled me the most. Attempting to emulate the kinds of realism I admired, I found out what I could do best. There is no substitute for professional art school, both atelier and university art departments.
“Summer in Provence” Oil on Canvas, 30” x 24”
Still life for me is pure poetry. The objects I choose to paint and how they are arranged is an enriched process. I imagine a setting with a person doing something or a narrative series of events. With flowers as the subject, I can paint them like portraits or as an abstract arrangement of color ideas.
“Midnight in Paris” Oil on Canvas, 11” x 14”
I see still life as a chance to freely design in a painterly space. The meaning behind these quiet narratives are left open for the viewer to discover their own connection in a personal way. It is amazing how engrossing it can be, all alone in the studio with my imagination and a bunch of objects while staging, planning and starting new work.
“Twenty-third Psalm” Oil on Canvas, 32” x 24”
After a lot of figure drawing and study of anatomy, I find I prefer to mostly paint the female form. Of course, I fully identify with female states of being. I see the feminine as a personified symbol of the earth itself.
“Soleil” Oil on Canvas, 36” x 60”
The female subject is the matriarch of our human drama from birth to death. This is where my strongest spiritual insights are. A more difficult kind of pre-planning for me happens before painting a figure subject.
“Intuition” Oil on Canvas, 22″ x 20″
I was teaching at the Milwaukee Institute of Art before I fell in love with the Southwest and moved to Santa Fe, New Mexico, twenty years ago. There was a thriving gallery scene and the internet was not an art market. Now, more art is sold online than in galleries and we artists are working with the challenges and opportunities of presenting art online.
“Portrait of a Young Woman” Oil on Panel, 14” x 18”
Above all, what happens in the studio makes everything happen and I stay focused on that—working back and forth between still life subjects and figure painting—finding my way as a truthful painter.
Artist Lyndall Bass invites you to follow her on Instagram.
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