Member of the Chestermere Fine Art Guild, Violette Clemente, has always loved art, and now she finally has an opportunity to devote her time to her watercolor and acrylic paintings.
“I’ve been making better art since 2007,” Clemente said.
“I was always interested in art. Every place we have travelled, I always wanted to go to museums or to galleries,” she added.
Although Clemente had always been interested in art, she didn’t have the time to pursue painting until she retired from working at the University of Calgary.
Once she retired, she began taking art classes for about three years before she felt comfortable enough to create art on her own.
“I liked it and decided it was time to do it on my own, and from then on it’s been painting, painting, and painting. I loved it,” Clemente said.
Clemente would paint outdoors, which taught her how to paint dimensions, instead of painting from a flat image.
“Inspiration comes from everywhere, and you don’t have to go abroad. Chestermere has beautiful sites,” Clemente said.
She added, “I’ve been thinking about doing a series of Chestermere sceneries. I don’t know if I will ever finish it, but that’s my goal.”
Now, Clemente paints from photographs she has taken from all around the world.
“I have to add something else. I try to paint what I see exactly, I have to improvise, and I have to use colours that you don’t see in nature to make it more interesting,” Clemente said.
After she decides on an image that she wants to paint using watercolour she will sketch it and ensure it’s perfect before she begins to paint.
“Watercolour is a medium that is difficult to change, especially when you have dark pieces. Watercolour has to be good from the first brushstroke,” she added.
However, if Clemente is using acrylic paint, she will only make a basic outline of the image, then colour block and continue to add colours and objects until the piece is completed.
“Acrylics are easier because with acrylics you can move a house. If you don’t like where it is, you can just paint over it and move it somewhere else,” Clemente said.
She added, “With watercolour, I have to improvise, if something doesn’t work, then I have to hide it with something else.”
Although creating art using watercolour still makes Clemente nervous, she enjoys the creative process and the challenge.
“I’m never 100 per cent confident that I’m going to succeed in one painting,” Clemente said.
“Some pieces I have never finished. I was very excited to paint, and everything was going well then, I decided to fix it, and I might ruin the painting at that stage,” Clemente added. “Sometimes I can finish something in hours, but it doesn’t always work that way.”
Despite the challenges Clemente faces while creating art, being awarded by the Federation of Canadian Artists, and having the opportunity to share her work with other keeps her motivated and excited to paint.
A highlight of Clemente’s happened during an art show, where a father told his young daughter to choose a painting she liked, and he would purchase it for her.
“She chose one of my paintings,” Clemente said.
She added, “To me, that was the best, to attract the attention of a young girl among all the other paintings.”
