Iris Fletcher – ARTIST

Iris Fletcher

Interview with artist Iris Fletcher —

18×24 acrylic stretched canvas

1. Who are you and what do you do?
I am Iris Fletcher, a 52 year old woman artist, born Sept. 23, 1962, and raised in New York City. I recently moved to Wichita Kansas, 5 yrs ago with my husband Art helps me cope with life’s anxieties and ups and downs. I am very perceptive and feel to the core. I see beyond what is presented in front of me.

2.Why Art?
Art is very intriguing to me. Its an escape from the real world, which can be so overwhelming at times. I love creativity. Art lets me communicate what I feel, and cannot verbalize. I feel free, and I zone in to my canvas in my small working area, and I hear and see no one.

16×20 acrylic stretched canvas

3. What is the earliest memory of wanting to be an artist?
I was very young, I remember around the age of 7 yrs old. I used to doodle, sketch and color, mostly shapes, and odd lines and colors that did not match with each other. I always got reprimanded for coloring outside of the lines. I felt restricted to stay within the lines. I wanted to be free to express myself without rules, when it came to art. People, teachers and family found that weird. I got discouraged through my childhood and discontinued. Later through junior high school, and high school, my teachers recommended I apply for some art school, but my parents disapproved.

4. What are your favorite subjects and media?
If by subject you mean style, I lean heavily toward abstract, often I try stepping out of my comfort zone though. My favorite media is acrylics heavy body, I also work with Inktense pencils, sketching pencils, gesso, and Liquitex mediums.

18×24 Acrylic stretched canvas

5. How do you work and approach your subject?
I am very organized , so when I start a new piece I make sure all my brushes are clean and dry and everything I need in place. I pick the size of my canvas , whether gallery wrapped or not. I may prime the canvas with gesso sometimes. I pick my colors and prepare my pallet, although throughout my painting, colors may change. My mind does race a lot. I never know what the end result will be. I spray the canvas with some water, I under color, depending on whats on my mind, sometimes I don’t. I start painting freely, either with sponges or brushes or both, pallet knife included. I let my moods and emotions flow freely through me and onto the canvas. If its something specific as wine bottles, or faces, I first sketch on sketch paper.

6. What are your favorite art works and artists?
My favorite art works of course include abstracts , modern, contemporary, fauvism, and the works of people I see on social media, and places I have visited. I would say as far as artists I do enjoy the works of Jackson Pollock, there are so many hidden messages within his paintings its amazing and it resonates with me. Also Robert Delaunay, Albert Gleizes, and Wassily Kandinsky.

16×20 acrylic on stretched canvas

7. What are the best responses you have had to your work?
The best response is the wonderful commentary form perfect strangers, such as – gorgeous, absolutely beautiful, I love the depth and brush strokes, looking at your pieces with wonder, etc.

16×20 acrylic canvas

8. What do you like about your work?
I love the sense of freedom I feel, and how people perceive my work, my thoughts and feelings. I am very open to peoples perception on how they see what I create and how they feel, what they see.

18×24 Acrylic stretched canvas

9. What advice would you give other artists?
Follow your heart, your emotions. Let that guide you, as you hold that paint brush or sponge or pallet knife onto the canvas, relax, don’t fear. You are one with the canvas. Create a safe place, practice mindfulness and deep breathing and suddenly magic appears. Try not to be your own worst critic, I myself am working on that. All of you is represented on that canvas or paper. Value your work, there are no mistakes, that you cannot fix. You are worth it.

16×20 acrylic canvas

10.Where do you see yourself 5 to 10 years from now?
I take it day to day , week to week, my goal is to get better at being an artist, step out of my comfort zone as an artist and learn all I can. My goal is to have my own studio one day in my own home where I can have my privacy and space and where my aura wont be disturbed.

Iris Fletcher

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