Life in Color :: Anne Salas
Painter Anne Salas in her studio on Cape Cod.
“Anne Salas’s florals are bursting with life, yet the vibrant color is balanced by the delicate linear work she incorporates into each painting. These flowers are bold yet tender, there is a beautiful sensitivity to their life force. There is strength and resilience in their blooms held aloft by their tenuous stems.””
Q:: What inspires you about Martha’s Vineyard?
A:: Every aspect of the island inspires. The jewel-like colors of the sea and landscapes. It’s a precious place and we are so incredibly lucky to know and love it.
Q:: Why do you create?
A:: It’s as natural as breathing for me~ as with all artists, I suppose. Forms, flowers, and fields of colors come together in my mind’s eye. The energy around that whips me up, the methods and means come forward and I delve in, it’s a daily practice. It brings peace and immense satisfaction. It’s also hard work. With each painting, there are moments of uncertainty and you press forward through them until you discover the truth and express it.
Q:: What’s your favorite place on Martha’s Vineyard?
A:: The places open to us where the sea kisses the land in its endless variety of subtle beauties.
Q:: What, if anything, does your work aim to say?
A:: You know for me, it’s all about joy, the joy that nature brings to us. It’s our purpose to bring about the best in ourselves and if possible to bring about joy for others. We all have our gifts and if this gift can bring joy to people it’s a good one. There’s enough in the world to distract us so it’s wonderful to find moments that delight us. We relax and are filled with peace.... That creates ripples and those ripples go far.
It’s also a celebration, an illumination of the diversity in living beings. Each plant contributes to the microbiology of the soil, making it richer, helping other plants grow...
Q:: Who or what are your biggest influences?
A:: Two of my teachers, Bob Henry and Selina Trieff. They both studied with Hans Hofmann in New York and in Provincetown in the 1950s I studied with them for over ten years. They opened up worlds of understanding for me. As well as being kind people. Their gifts, in addition, to be amazing painters, are teaching and inspiring the means for others to find their own ways to paint.
Q:: What’s inspiring to you these days?
A:: I’m always inspired by nature, the colors of the sky, the hope in our hearts.
Blue Garden #1695, Oil on Canvas with 23kt gold leaf
Anne Salas paintings are available at the Field Gallery in West Tisbury.
