Blog Archives
Q: How would you describe your personal artistic style?
Posted by barbararachkoscoloreddust
A: Regardless of what medium I am using, I am first and foremost a colorist. Everything I create is vibrant with color.
The Navy taught me to be organized, goal-oriented and focused, to love challenges, and in everything I do, to pay attention to the details. Trying to make it as an artist in New York is nothing BUT challenges, so these qualities serve me well, whether I am creating paintings, shooting and making photographs, or trying to understand the art business, keep up with social media, and manage all the tasks required of a busy artist with a New York studio, a business, and two residences to maintain. It’s a lot, but it forces me to continually learn and grow. As Helen Keller famously said, “Life is an adventure or it is nothing.”
These days I am rarely bored. I thoroughly enjoy spending long, solitary hours working to become a better artist. I am meticulous about craft and will not let work out of my studio until it is as good as I can make it. My creative process is more exciting than ever. It’s thrilling and energizing to continually push soft pastel to its limits and use it in ways that no other artist has done before!
Comments are welcome!
Share this:
- Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) Facebook
- Click to share on X (Opens in new window) X
- Click to share on Tumblr (Opens in new window) Tumblr
- Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window) Pinterest
- Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window) LinkedIn
- Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window) Reddit
- Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window) Email
- Click to print (Opens in new window) Print
Posted in 2013, An Artist's Life, Art in general, Creative Process, Guatemala, Inspiration, New York, NY, Pastel Painting, Photography, Quotes, Studio, Working methods
Tags: adventure, artist, artistic, attention, before, bored, business, busy, challenges, color, colorist, continually, creating, creative, days, describe, details, energizing, everything, exciting, famously, figures, focused, goal-oriented, grow, Guatemalan, Helen Keller, learn, life, limits, love, maintain, making, manage, medium, Navy, New York, nothing, organized, paintings, pastel, personal, photographs, process, push, qualities, rarely, required, residences, said, shooting, social media, soft pastel, Studio, style, tasks, thoroughly, thrilling, trying, understand, use, vibrant, ways
Q: Please speak about your background as a Naval officer and aviator and how that has informed your sensibility as an artist.
Posted by barbararachkoscoloreddust
A: At the age of 25 I got my private pilot’s license before spending the next two years amassing thousands of hours of flight time as I earned every flying license and rating I could, ending with a Boeing-727 flight engineer certificate. I joined the Navy when I was 29. I used to think that the 7 years I spent on active duty were wasted – during those 7 years I should have been working on my art – but I see things differently now. The Navy taught me to be disciplined, to be goal-oriented and focused, to love challenges, and in everything I do, to pay attention to the details. Trying to make it as an artist in New York is nothing BUT challenges so these qualities serve me well, whether I’m creating paintings, shooting and printing photographs, or trying to understand the art business and keep up with social media. I enjoy spending long solitary hours working to become a better artist. I am meticulous about craft and will not let a work out of my studio or out of the darkroom until it is as good as I can make it.
Comments are welcome!
Share this:
- Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) Facebook
- Click to share on X (Opens in new window) X
- Click to share on Tumblr (Opens in new window) Tumblr
- Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window) Pinterest
- Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window) LinkedIn
- Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window) Reddit
- Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window) Email
- Click to print (Opens in new window) Print
Posted in 2013, An Artist's Life, Black Paintings, Creative Process, Gods and Monsters, Inspiration, Studio, Working methods
Tags: "as good as I can get it", 25 years old, 29 years old, a better artist, active duty, Art Business, artist, attention to detail, aviator, background, Boeing 727 flight engineer, challenge, craft, creating, darkroom, discipline, enjoy, Flying, focused, goal-oriented, inform, keep up, license, meticulous, naval officer, Navy, New York artist, paintings, photographs, printing, qualities, rating, sensibility, shooting, social media, solitary hours, Studio, work, yesterday

