Ann Trainor Domingue Answers "4 Questions"
1. Your stories/memories are personal. What do you think about viewers
bringing their own interpretation to your paintings?
I recently heard a comment that at first confused me but then realized it was true.
‘The personal is universal’. In making my personal artwork it can become universal
as different viewers see a similar meaning in it for themselves. I incorporate
images or shapes, color and line as I put together thoughts on canvas. After
having made hundreds of artworks I finally realize I can place elements on a
canvas in a certain way, yet each viewer will interpret it through his or her own
filter of life experiences. Their viewpoint will inevitably be different than mine,
made even more powerful as it connects on a personal level I had not considered.
2. How do you overcome creative blocks?
I continue working in a sketchbook which I have done now since 1997. As required
on a college field trip to NYC, we were expected to sketch on the train as it rocked
and rolled from RI to NYC. I sketched ideas for sculpture class as the train rattled
along. Later I sketched on airplanes to pass time and help cure my fear of flying. I
draw and paint small on-site watercolor sketches of vignettes of vacation travels.
I’ve also written ideas for children’s book stories during road trips. I currently
sketch, draw and paint ideas as thumbnails—very small drawings that contain a lot
of info for a new large painting. These thumbnails are a holdover from my
advertising design work in order to quickly capture design ideas for logos or ad
campaigns. Now having sketchbooks as a rich resource of simple ideas puts me
back on a path I may have wandered from as life got busy or too noisy to focus. A
nice quiet walk in any season will also work for me.
3. What is your biggest inspiration?
Relationships between people. I nibbled around the edges of this idea for years as
I studied life drawing from the figure, but hardly ever put people in my final work. I
then leaned on my sketchbooks again to try to capture the gist or gesture of
people in a casual setting. I’ve relied on bad snapshots with a traditional small
camera to be discreet when taking a shot. I then recompose the figures to fit an
idea. I did this early on in my ‘fisherman and a girl’ series and continue as I invent
poses and situations to place people in my work. I intentionally leave space for a
viewer to feel their own idea of a story. A client thanked me recently for creating a
painting ‘that allowed them space to be in it.’ I don’t create portraits but create an
environment for others to feel inspired by it. This wasn’t my intention early on but
is now encouraged by fans and collectors.
4. How does your art affect other aspects of your life?
Remarrying at forty, I found a wonderful man who was fascinated by my artistic
being and encouraged my shift from graphic design to fine artist. His vision of me
as a painter was quite clear but I was unclear. In 1997 began my journey toward
being a fulltime artist/painter and it has been exceptional ever since. I’ve used my
sense of design and color to help local businesses and art organizations. I apply
design principles in gardening, sketching ideas for a pergola, landscaping and
plant choices, choosing paint colors for walls and houses, etc. My color sense has
thankfully matured along the way as some of my choices were awful. I’ve designed
logos for family businesses and use programs to design marketing for my own art
business. And now I encourage grandchildren to play in my new large art studio.
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