Art, // September 23, 2022
Rosa Maria Simões — ARTIST
Interview with artist Rosa Maria Simões —
1. Who are you and what do you do?
I am Rosa Maria Simões, born in Coimbra, Portugal on December 31, 1956.
I am in love with the fine arts, the handicrafts, and everything that has to do with manual work and many colors.
I am a teacher, and a trainer of plastic expression and manual work. (craftsmanship)
2. Why art?
Art has an important influence on my life. I see art in everything, even in what people can nickname “garbage” The desire to take the paints and brushes when I come across, for example, with something wonderful to cross a screen, dazzles me. The desire to take a piece of clay and turn it into a “work of art,” fascinates me. The hours on end, when the inspiration comes and you can’t stop, is something that calls me, that wakes me up.
3. What is your first memory of wanting to be an artist?
As a child, I heard that the famous painters painted with oil paint. I was fascinated and asked my parents to buy me such inks. When I started painting small boards and fabrics with wild flowers, I just loved it. And I knew at that moment that it was what I wanted most. In my teens I remember that I attended private handicraft classes, to know how to use different materials such as gold, little slope and others.
4. What are the favorite subjects and “media”?
I really like nature. It’s something that fascinates me. The fruits, the flowers, the crockery, the glass etc. Its composition, the preserving, the depth, the shadows, the light, everything has to be in harmony in my projects.
Oil, is my favorite “media”. With it, I can make the textures, the various color mixtures, the brush slide, which I can’t with acrylic paint.
Then comes the watercolor. Also one of my favorites. Flowers, they are part of my subjects. It is for me something magical, the power of water with a pigment nothing, and a painting is born…
Finally, acrylic paint, which I use most in landscapes and abstracts.
5. How do you work and address your subject?
When she lived in the Netherlands, I was often presented with many flowers offered by my husband. I took them, thanked him, and that gave me a huge desire to paint them. And I did it many times.
A curiosity: one night, while listening to the speech of former US President George W. Bush, I painted one of my works entitled “a supposed light at the bottom of the tunnel”
While reading a book, I just found something to paint.
I like to work on the themes of nature. Subjects that recall moments and special places.
6. What are your artwork?
My works address various topics such as landscape, dead nature and abstract paintings.
7. What are the best reactions you had from your work?
The invitation to exhibitions, the appreciation for my work and the acquisition of my works, are a great answer. Those who have accompanied me since the first exhibition say they can see my evolution in the paintings. The positive comments, the “pride” that demonstrate by displaying my works, criticism and encouraging to continue, are very important and have great value in the progress of my work.
8. What do you like in your work?
I like the strong colors, the light and the shadow, the perspective, the depth, to “feel” all that I am creating, as if it were a dialogue between me and the painting.
9. What advice would give to other artists?
Not being afraid of making new experiences, letting creativity speak louder. Develop some area that gives you pleasure, even if you have to get out of your “comfort zone.”
10. How you can see in the future (5 to 10 years)?
I see myself in a “growing” with more knowledge.
I would like to attend more art courses and develop new areas.
Have the opportunity to make more exhibitions, both individual and collective, in Portugal and abroad. Create and continue to sell my works to do and outside my country and thus feel more accomplished.
Rosa Maria Simões
LINKS —
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/simoesart
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rosa.simoes.art/
Olívia da Costa
Olívia da Costa é o nosso correspondente de artes para a Arts Illustrated em Portugal.
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