Kim C Pelletier

When did you first become interested in art?

For as far as I can remember I have always enjoyed drawing.  My parents say that I started around age 3 and that they had to buy me a brick of paper otherwise I would have drawn on anything that I could get my hands on; walls, furniture, etc – They say I was also quite very talented for my age.

I have learned from watching my father who is a quite talented artist as well – Seeing that I was showing such talent and passion, my father took me to Sister Albertine Mallet, a nun who was giving oil painting lessons once a week to a small group of adults. I was around 6 and a half or 7 years old if memory serves me well – I began on pastels and later moved on to oil painting – This is my first oil painting which, my mother has kept and displays on her dinning room wall. The date on the back says it was completed in March of 1983, which made me 8 years old at the time.

I continued taking lessons with Sister Albertine until I believe the age of 11, after what school, other interests and activities occupied the greater of my time. However I never really gave-up drawing; In College I studied graphic design and later traditional cartoon animation techniques. Finally I decided to pick up on oil painting again in 2006, which is something I do in my free time and wish I had more of.

What style of art do you use most?

When it comes to painting I really prefer the realistic form. I paint mostly wet on wet, but can combine other techniques. I sometimes use coloured grounds and sometimes underpainting. For instance these white flowers, which I’m currently working on was started with a black and white underpainting.  I’m also working on a winter scenery, which has been put on the back burner for now, where I’m trying impasto for the first time. I don’t know how it will turnout, I have no idea of what I’m doing – It’s an experiment – I want to explore other techniques because I feel that I’m lacking knowledge of techniques in general and that that’s what I’m missing to improve the level of my artworks.

Has your style changed from when you first began as an artist?

I don’t think that my style has changed very much.

As a child I used to paint still lives especially, in a style that was meant to be realistic and at home or at school I always liked to doodle cartoon characters from a Preston Blair book I had – Looking into the present, things haven’t really changed for me; I still paint realistically and still doodle cartoons for fun – By the way, I did work in the cartoon animation business for some time. I worked on a series called Mega Babies and another called Sagwa the Chinese Siamese cat.

What medium do you use?

I paint with oils although I have been thinking about trying H2Oils (water soluble oil paint) eventually to see how that works out for me because I have a rather small studio space and ventilation is a bit of a concern in wintertime. In the meantime, instead of turpentine I use a 100% natural citrus solvent, which actually works just as good as turpentine.

What made you choose that medium?

I like working with oils for a number of reasons, first and foremost I believe is because it was the first medium I was introduced to. But I also like mixing and playing with the colours on the canvas, which makes oils the perfect medium for that. It isn’t uncommon of me to add touch-ups as I walk-by my painting a day or two after a painting session – I like the idea that time is on my side and can always alter a few details here and there.

Do your ideas come from life or imagination?

My ideas definitely come from life; places that I’ve been, things that I’ve seen, objects that remind me of good time passed with friends.

How do you choose your images and colours?

It is a long and perhaps strange process: There are things that I see and that stay stuck in my mind, either for their colours, texture or something that appeals to me. Those images can stay in my mind for a long time until I somehow make a connection between images. Something tells me that these objects belong together. I then try to arrange and re-arrange the elements in my mind until I find the composition that I like best – For instance, “Le Panier” features a fruit basket that was laying around house for years and which I didn’t want to throw away because its colour was speaking to me. But I felt there was something missing. It wasn’t until much later, when a friend from New Brunswick came over bringing this bottle of French wine that I knew this was the missing element – In a sense we could say that painting tells the story of that time when our New Brunswick friend (the bottle) came home (the basket) to visit; for sure though, I’m reminded of him every time I look at that painting.

Who is your favourite artist?

That’s a tough question. I like many. Among the Great Masters I like the impressionists Manet, Renoir, Cézanne and Camille Corot especially. I recently began developing interest and appreciation for Baroque painting. Rembrandt among others comes to mind but I still know very little about artists from that period – Among modern day artists I guess that I would have to say Robert Bateman, a well-known Canadian wildlife artist. My father is also a fan of Bateman and I remember him copying some of Bateman’s paintings. I think that must have influenced my appreciation for Bateman’s realistic style and outstanding attention to details.

What is your favourite piece of work by yourself?

At the moment it would have to be my latest painting, “La collation”. You see, depicting depth is a quality that I’m trying to improve in my paintings – By that I do not mean just shapes and shadows and juxtaposing objects in front of others to simulate depth; I mean literally painting the air, the space, that emptiness around so that one can feel he could reach and grab the objects inside the painting – That is not easy to achieve and I’m not quite there yet but I think that La Collation is closer to that sense of depth than all my previous paintings.

How much time (on average) does it take to complete a work?

That really depends on how much free time I got. There are periods where I can work on a painting everyday for a week or two, and other periods where I have less time and work only sporadically – A painting can take me from 2 to 8 months to complete.

How well do you take criticism?

I’m not used to getting criticism for my artwork. I always get compliments. I know that people mean well but it kind of creeps me out a little because I never heard anything different than “You’re so good, you’re so talented” or my favourite “Oh my Gosh, with that kind of talent you should do something!” – I would prefer compliments such as: “I like the colours” or “I like how you did the grapes” or something that tells me what it is in my painting that caught your eye or again, what it is that you like less; that would be alright too.

What do you do to overcome a ‘block’?

What I used to find difficult when I was working in the cartoon animation studio was getting up early in the morning to be at work at 9am, sit at my desk, grab a pencil, turn-on my light table and then… stare at it blankly! – You can’t force inspiration – it doesn’t work like that.  So like many other artists in the studio I used to go to the kitchen grab a nice cup of coffee, chat away with other artists for some time until I felt ready to tackle work – When it comes to oil painting, I don’t have to be at work at 9 am every day and remember, I do this as a hobby mainly. So whenever I don’t have the inspiration, I don’t try to force it. I just accept it and do something else.

How do you know something is ‘finished’? Is it easy to walk away?

I just know when something is finished.  I feel satisfied and I don’t have any problem at all walking away.

Have you had exhibits in galleries?

I never had a gallery exhibit.

Have you any exhibits in galleries planned for the future?

I would love to. When I’ll have at least 10 or 12 paintings, this is something I have in mind for the future.

What are your plans for the future?

I began teaching to draw comic strip cartoons in a community centre. I would like to continue doing so and hope to work my way up to teach drawing classes as well. Also, in 2009 I’m planning to take some oil painting technique lessons with two fantastic artists from the New York Academy of Art, Allana Benham and Eric Mannella at Atelier de Brésoles here in Montréal.

What advice would you give new artists?

Develop good drawing habits such as taking the time to make sketches, setting the size, shape, proportions of the elements and take the time to observe carefully – Don’t take short cuts – I erase and start over too, I don’t always get great results right off the start. No one does! I believe that to draw or paint is to be willing to experiment – If one painting doesn’t turn-out as good as you expected, it’s okay; the next one will be better.

Very good advice Kim.  Your work is very much like the old masters that made me want to be an artist as I was growing up.  Beautiful.  Thank you for the interviews!

You can view more of Kim’s images at http://kcpelletier.imagekind.com/