Early Training Leads to Career Longevity for Local Artist

Between the Carrollwood Cultural Center and the Life Enrichment Center, one thing is clear: North Tampa is a community full of talented artists.

We recently talked to one named Dore' Anderson about how she got her start and what her influences are.

Patch: How did you get your start as an artist?

Anderson: My early training at the Atheneum in Hartford Connecticut on Saturday mornings began at 10; seeing classic and contemporary art masterpieces each week reinforced an  invisible olive branch with all these images hanging on it.

In my mind, I started to think in images developing spatial qualities during that formative year. I began to notice people looking at people in paintings, observing both subject matter and viewer and became aware of both.

Patch: Who or what influences you?

Anderson:  We are influenced by our environments, the shapes within it. Starting ballet classes  with formal techniques added the lyrical appreciations  I create in my paintings today; movement, sweeps of direction, the flow of
transitions in color values.

What has influenced me are those French Impressionists catching light during different periods of the day and translating it to their canvases. They caught the mood and movement with strokes of color in figures  and landscapes, leaving areas on their canvases for the eye to  rest. My colored pencil oils and acrylic paintings in diagonal strokes  are styles I credit to teachers and the French Impressionists.

By painting my strokes diagonally, they  imply action or movement, give an energy to the works, can be abstracts  or impressions. My artwork probably tells a story since painting from ones imagination opens up a realm of possibilities. I sometimes use references as a point of departure, they help to get one thinking and moving in the right direction on your canvas.

Patch: What are misconceptions you think people have about artists?

Anderson: There are misconceptions today as there were centuries ago about artists. We are not mad. Most artists are risk takers which is different. If an
artist does not have a commission, he/she is taking a risk of time, supplies and money spent to create a work of art that may never sell. Most, like myself, stay in it because we have to. Going even a week without time at the easel puts us in a tailspin.

Like a writer, many of us start a piece and finish it in our  studios. Or, a
corner somewhere. I do with music when possible; it calms the  soul, and
sometimes weaves its' mystery into my canvas.

Patch: What does your work say about you as a person?

Anderson: I hope my artwork, including clay figurative sculpture and paintings, makes a difference on a wall, a pedestal, in a garden, in an art collection. I create  figures, landscapes, animals, often incorporate all into one; a world as I view it, to move someone in an emotional way, welcome another,  because artwork should.

Patch: How can members of the community see your work?

Anderson: All of my art is for purchase. Currently in Florida at the Carrollwood Cultural Center,  Hunter's Green in New Tampa, Cardiology Office Brandon, HiBrow Gallery in Dade City, Sky Ridge Studio in Dade City. My portfolio web site is http://www.skyridgestudio.com. It has many pieces  for sale. Contact me for
fine art or abstract portrait commissions.