11   THE ART OBSERVER July 2006 By Sarah Crane 1.When did you first discover your artistic talent? I’ve been painting since the age of 6, at least that’s my earliest recollection, but it wasn’t until I was 30 and living in Panama that I finally took the plunge and became a full-time painter. Between finishing university and moving to Panama in 1992, I had been working as a photographer. 2.Which past or present artists have influenced you and how? I grew up surrounded by the work of Bram Van Velde (Dutch), Pierre Pallut (French) and Paolo Serra (Italian). I used to visit Paolo’s studio as a child and silently hoped that one day when I grew up I’d make beautiful paintings like him. I remember seeing my first Francis Bacon triptych when I was about 12 at a friend of my mother’s house; it was another one of those impacting moments. I wept at the tragic beauty of this piece. The American Expressionists - Pollock, De Kooning and Rothko have been hugely influential; Rothko’s colour fields, Pollock’s huge canvases that are full of move- ment and De Kooning’s energetic canvases. Needless to say, I’d add Mark Tobey (Pacific North- western artist) his beautifully delicate and Zen-like white writing series and Agnes Martin’s serene minimalist ‘dissolving of form’.   My work is ‘construc- tivist’ in style so the Russian Constructivists through to Bauhaus have played a part in my development along with Ben Nicholson, Henry Moore and Barbara Hepworth’s preoccupation and use of space and form. I’ve looked to the wonderfully joyful and colourful sculpture of Niki De St Phalle for my palette. Then, there are my contemporary Latin American colleagues, Maestro Guillermo Trujillo who spent hours convincing me that abstraction was the direction I should follow...I was a figurative painter to start with...Maestro Alfredo Sinclair and his daughter Olga Sinclair are wonderful colourists who have patiently helped me realise that there is no such thing as an ‘ugly’ colour. The list of influence is endless; I look to sculptors, architects, photographers and musicians. I’ve always felt that there’s no such thing as reinventing the wheel as far as art is concerned but perhaps what we can do is pick up the thread of conversation, in my case where the Russian constructivists left off in the 1920’s. 3.What are your favourite materials to work with and why? I work with acrylic although many people assume that I work in oil because of my ‘transparen- cies’ and ‘translucencies’. Because of the nature of my work, acrylic is the most practical, there’s a lot of layering of paint involved (anything between 20-40 layers) so oils would take forever to dry. 4.What inspires you to paint and how do you keep motivated when things get tough in the studio? Things never really get tough in the studio; I do what I love and love what I do. If I have a problem resolving a painting then I turn it around facing the wall for a couple of weeks (that’s its punishment!) The biggest problem always with my style of work is really to know when the painting has had enough, when to stop. 5. Could you talk about your latest series of paintings and what you are trying to achieve with them? My 2004 solo show in Panama was about a voyage - a literal, metaphysical and spiritual voyage. The 2006 show at Wendy Levy’s gallery named ‘Shifting Allegories’ was a bridging between that voyage and my next 2007 show in Washington which is titled ‘The other side of Silence’, its another kind of voyage. 6. How have you handled the business side of being an artist? Managing my own career is something that no one person taught me. I’ve learned from several individuals, positive and negative encounters, trial and error experiences and personal intuition. I try to apply the same techniques that other self- employed professionals use to make their careers work. I’m far more organised now than ever before i.e. knowing where my work is, which country, who’s got what, the ‘provenance’ of my paintings. 7.What sort of music, if any, do you enjoy listening to? Does it help you to paint? My taste in music is varied and depends what I’m doing in my studio. If I’m stretching canvases then I tend to listen to something more up beat, either Latin American music or rock. When I paint, I usually listen to classical music, opera or the blues - violin concertos, Philip Glass’ opera trilogy or a requiem mass. 8. Do you paint for a full-time profession or for therapeutic relief from everyday life? Painting is a way of life for me; it stopped being a hobby when I turned 30. I try to paint everyday and I tend to get agitated if I spend too much time away from my studio. 9. Do you take pleasure in reading? Rather like music, what I read depends on my mood. I do read a lot, probably about 3 or 4 books per week. When I discover an author, I tend to work my way through everything they’ve written to try to get a better feel for their style and voice or the development of their characterisation. This is probably left over from doing a degree in English Literature. 10. Are the majority of your friends artistic types or do they have a variety of occupations? Most of my friends in the Americas are artists but on this side of the Atlantic my friends have varied occupations. 11.What advice would you give to an artist just starting out? I was told once by a wonderful painter, Alfredo Sinclair (he’s now in his nineties, a remarkable fellow who still paints everyday) that success, as an artist is 99% perspiration with a little talent thrown into that mix and 1% good luck. I would advise anyone who is starting out to paint constantly and just when you think it isn’t possible to work any harder, paint some more. 14 Questions with... Lisa De Prudhoe I would also add that one should take praise and adverse criticism pretty much in the same stride, with grace and not pay too much attention to either. 12. Do you see yourself as improving on your art with each new painting? I don’t know whether ‘improving’ is the word I’d use; perhaps ‘growth’ is better. I think if you’re brutally honest with yourself, you do grow with each piece of work, whether it’s considered good or bad. 13. Do you define success of an artist in terms of more their commercial success or simple contentment with their own work? It’s a combination of the two, earning a living doing what you love best; creating fine art. 14. And finally, where do you see yourself in 10 years time? Have never been very good at predicting the future, hopefully I’ll be in good health and still painting. Chorus II