Visit the Studio with Claire Price

The paintings and subjects of artist Claire Price are complicated, magical, and ever-changing. In her rich acrylic portraits Claire captures scenes as familiar as dessert flowers and apple trees, as well as images of unicorns and flamingoes so magical they seem to vibrate off the canvas. As different as each image and subject can be, they are always united by Claire’s vibrant, electric style.

Join us as we explore how Claire utilizes vintage photographs and breathes a new, colorful life into them through her painting process.

What materials do you use? And why?

Before I got pregnant I mainly painted in oils, but I switched to acrylic in 2015 and haven't looked back. I love how fast it dries and the heavy body acrylics by Golden mimic the thickness of oil pretty well.

I paint on stretched canvas (most of which I prep myself) and right now I’m having a love affair with wood panel.

I also use a lot of collage in my work; things like photos I’ve taken, found images/ postcards/ photos/ magazine pages, vintage books, and etchings all make their way into my paintings. When I lived in Paris I’d collect old things I’d find in the streets like a vintage copy of Baudelaires’ “Fleur du mal”. When my husband was working on demolishing houses in Boston he found some 100 year old newspapers stuffed in the wall that had been used for insulation. That made its way into some works. Sometimes it gets almost completely painted over, but the fact that it lives in the painting, underneath the layers, is like a magical secret not many people know about.

What is your artwork about? What does it speak to?

When I first started painting I didn’t necessarily start out with a clear idea of ‘what’ I was going to make art about and for a long time I thought I had to know before I could start, which had me stuck. Now that I have made a lot of art I am able to look back on it all and see my tastes and inclinations; what inspired me. I see groupings of themes like ‘people doing fabulous things’, ‘the disappearing natural world’, and ‘mystical utopia’’.

I am often thinking about mother nature as the great architect of the natural world. Painting a bird is like a meditation on the genius of natures’ design. I am also drawn to imagery I find campy, fabulous, daring, and sometimes a bit spooky. I love using bold color and I try to create work that brings joy and has an element of intrigue.

Where do you get your inspiration?

Most of my work starts with vintage photographs. I work mostly with ‘found’ source images. After 20 years working as a photographer I didn't want to have to go through the rigmarole of staging a photo shoot to then make paintings of. Working from found images allows me to feel a great sense of freedom. The images are usually black & white and low definition which leaves ample space for me to reinterpret the form and bring it new life.

I enjoy searching for and cataloging images on Pinterest. This is another way for me to find out what my tastes and inclinations are. I discover a lot of contemporary artists on Pinterest which helps educate me on the current market and different examples of what painting can be.

What is your typical routine when you get to the studio? Walk us through a typical studio day.

Pre lockdown I’d drop my son off at school and head to my studio. Thankfully home, school, and the studio are all within a 10 minute drive of each other. I have a pair of fake crocs I bought at Family Dollar that I exchange for my day shoes and I put on my apron. I finish my morning perusal of internet related activities (email, news, facebook, instagram) by 10am. Then I put myself in a kind of active flow state where I just start spontaneously responding to my environment, picking up partly finished works when I have a clear idea or impulse on what it needs next, or starting something new, or cleaning my space.

I’ll typically have 10+ works I’ll be working at any given period. I have a habit of completing a work 95% of the way, but not feeling ready to give it the final touch that says ‘its finished’. There will be this lingering feeling that it’s not complete and my gut will know when I have the idea to ‘finish’ it.

For me, having a lot of work in progress at one time helps me not get too precious. Sometimes I can back myself into a corner when I have become too attached to a work. I no longer want to take risks because I’m scared I’ll ruin it, so I’ll put it down for a few weeks. By the time I revisit it later I can see it with bold, fresh eyes again. I have detrimentally overworked paintings when I became too focused on finishing it.

Do you work at a particular size or scale? Why?

As I’ve gained confidence as a painter I’ve experimented with going larger and larger. I’m currently trying to finish an 8x7 ft painting I’ve been working on for over a year. Painting large is liberating and terrifying all at once. I do prefer painting large though. I like the sensation of feeling like you could dive through a window into the world I’ve created. It is easier for me to create gestural marks when I’m not constrained by tight borders.

However, I deliberately create smaller paintings so that I can offer a range of works at an accessible price range, but I have found it can be very technical and more time consuming to paint small.

What are you currently working on? Share with us what is exciting to you about this most recent work.

I’m putting the finishing touches on a triptych of lily pads painted on three large wood panels. I’m going through a bit of a flora and fauna period at the moment and find myself drawn to a color palate as a point of departure. This painting is fun and liberating because the subject matter allows me to be gestural and impressionistic. I’m trying to create layers using glazes (paint pigment diluted with clear medium to create transparency) in this painting.

Which artists most inspire you and your work?

Most of the artists I love are contemporary and working now. There’s too many to name them all but I’ll try to stick to the ones that relate to my work the most. Lars Elling, Enrique Martinez Celaya, Samuel Bassett, Lou Ros, Claire Tabouret, Daniel Richter, Peter Doig, Neo Rauch, Cecily Brown, Hernan Bas, Mamma Anderson. These are all artists who are taking figurative elements and merging it with something painterly so there’s a kind of abstraction meets figurative going on to varying degrees. They manage to create their own universe and their artworks fill me with a certain feeling like ‘this is it, this is what I’m searching for in my own work’.

Do you balance another job in addition to being an artist?

For the first time in my life I have only one job and that is painting. Prior to 2015 I juggled a career as a photographer and a singer-songwriter while I painted in my spare time. It suited my lifestyle at the time, but I am really grateful to find myself in a creative practice where I don’t require the participation of anyone else to move ahead. My life before, I felt like I was always waiting for studios and models and band mates schedules –– now I can go to my space and work all day uninterrupted and it's pure bliss.

We hope you’ve enjoyed this special peek into Claire's creative environment! Even in a virtual age, we encourage all budding collectors to take the time to connect with the artists you love directly.

We want to remind you of our awesome artist messaging feature directly on the Art in Res site––reach out now and foster that creative energy! Have more questions for Claire on her art and practice? Follow up with her directly via our messenger. We know she’ll be thrilled to answer any questions you might have. Ask about a specific painting or about her specific process in general––either approach works!