Eric Charr – CARE Goodwill Ambassador and CBS Fitness Expert: Want to give a shout out to the lovely Ms. Tina Steele Lindsey. This woman puts her whole heart into her art.
Joshua Addison – Tool Room Gallery Ventura, CA: Your painting titled Distraction draws me in.
Johnny Henny – WBGallerySoHo: I like your abstracts!
Mike Morgan – Professor, College Administrator: I still see your paintings in my head!
C. Maike Caudle, ASID, IIDA: Always unexpected. Always amazing. Her thoughts and passion behind her art has provoked a wonderful working relationship and I know she is the first person I call when I am in need. Versatile and talented, Tina Steele Lindsey is an extraordinary artist and professional.
Roger W. Gardner – writer: Your work is fantastic. I especially love Calm 1 and Happiness. Calm 1 is poignant and immense. And Happiness is unique, rich and classically beautiful.
Laura Mercurio Ebohon – writer/ Roger W. Gardnerpoet: I love your art, every time I look at your paintings they make me wish I had the right words to transpose them into verses!
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Philip Quinn Morris – writer - Thirsty City and Mussels among many of his works: Tina Steele Lindsey grew up mostly in the South Carolina low country with some stints in Alabama before moving to the Atlanta area in her teen years. Her early life would prove to be that of observation and osmosis, soaking in the talents of her parents and the diverse cultural ethnology she was exposed to. Her artistic energies were spent in the form of dance and music; it would not be until the twenty-first century Tina would pick up brush and pallet and create her magic on the canvas. Her formal training is due an apprenticeship under her late father, Victor D. Steele. While many professional artists boast art degrees and awards, Tina’s work speaks for itself, the result on canvas is of a talent, an eye, heart and soul that very few manage to communicate in a lifetime. The cliché — a picture is worth a thousand words – prevails here.
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~~ ART CORE INTERVIEW ~~ Donald Kolberg, November 2009
Art Core is celebrating the remarkable work of a very gifted artist this month.
Art Core: When did you first realize you were an artist? As far back as kindergarten I remembered being puzzled as to why classmates would draw people with stick arms and legs. Though I liked their happy faces I didn’t want to draw people that way. My parents painted which certainly had everything to do with my awareness that bodies had form. Instead of stick figures I drew ballerinas in tutus and slippers dancing across a curtained stage. I was happy in art, my favorite time in school, but never underestimate how the power of words and how they are said can greatly affect a small mind.
Sometime shortly after second grade my impressionable ears overheard a person of authority say as humans were all uniquely different, each with something uniquely special to offer and we were obligated to find out what that was. I took that straight into my child’s understanding to literally mean I needed to be different than my parents. In youthful ignorance I made a conscious decision that there were two other people in the family who painted, it was their special thing, and I needed to find out what my something special was. I concentrated on dance and music, other things, until adulthood brought new responsibility and demands upon my time. I even played music professionally for a time, but it wasn’t until my father tricked me into doing a still life in his studio that I realized art was in my very core, it was my very core, and I’d wasted a whole lot of time.
Art Core: You have a variety of styles. Could you tell us some more about your work?
That has a lot to do with an insatiable desire to cram a lot of art experience into an accelerated amount of time. I began with loose impressionism, and then tightened up for a period, and now I find I often combine the two. I do not limit myself to canvas if a need calls for something else. I work in oils and acrylics, pastel at times, and can often be aggressive with color but then turn around and do something 100% in the opposite direction.
Art Core: When you paint a portrait you capture a spark of that person. How do you translate that emotion into painting? That is very generous, thank you so much. It doesn’t hurt that I love people. They are beautiful and complicated. As a child throughout my teenage years I adored playing the staring game, the one where two people stare into each ether’s eyes and the first to look away loses. I got really good at that game. It taught me to never shy away from looking deeply into a person’s eyes. Eyes truly are the window to the soul and the longer you look the more you know. I try to tap into whatever is going within that person, take that in and absorb it, and then translate that into the work. I am definitely much more concerned about capturing an essence than creating great work. I guess to sum it up it isn’t a technical thing for me, but rather a personal thing. All my painting is personal. To be frank, I don’t know how I do any of it.
Art Core: What famous artists have influenced you, and how? Bouguereau, Whistler, Singer Sargeant, Westerberg, Kassan, Puliese, Lindstrom, Ignatov, Lipking, Taylor (Justin), Alexander Volkov. I could literally go on and on. I’ve recently discovered the wonderful Graydon Parrish. All of these artists are masterful with conveying mood and emotion; it simply oozes from their work. No matter how technically well executed a painting may be, if it doesn’t have life it makes me uncomfortable. Must have life, emotion, passion.
Art Core: What do you do for fun (besides painting and drawing)? Seriously not much right now. My husband and I use to do a lot of trail riding, and I really miss that. We are both self employed and free time often is not an option. We must work all aspects of business which takes a great deal of time. On occasion his work spills into mine and vice versa. We do well to go to a restaurant once every couple of weeks. But that is okay, that is what it takes.
Art Core: What inspires you to create art? Music and viewing good portraiture inspires me, but I rarely view abstract art if I can help it. Abstracts have to come from someplace within, there is no visual to go by. They can be very difficult and if not done while in the moment a work will turn out visually contrived. I have kind of a photographic memory when it comes to paintings anyway, so I never want another abstract to influence what I do. How do I keep motivated when things get tough in the studio? I’ve learned it is best to walk away and come back with fresh eyes and spirit in order to keep from overworking a painting.
Art Core: How have you handled the business side of being an artist? The business side is a necessary evil and takes entirely too much time away from the creative process. I’ve reluctantly removed the comment option on my blog in some small effort to remedy serious time constraints. Something had to give as I couldn’t possibly live with myself if I did not respond to each and every comment left by readers. Other than that one must be creative and work all angles. The art market is a tough market, especially in this economy.
Art Core: What advice would you give to an artist just starting out? Never give up, just don’t do it. If you cannot afford to do it full time, paint when you can. And if at all possible, find someone to assist with the business end!
I lean toward simplicity in composition. I am wholly deliberate in this. We tend to complicate everything for a bigger picture, but in art there is one thought, one idea, and it should be clear, concise, to the point. Less is best I believe, in all things. The more complicated the world becomes, the less complicated I become in my studio. We just all need to live life well, simply, wonderfully. ~ Tina Steele Lindsey~
I am a second generation artist after both parents, mother Jane and father Victor Denfrey Steele. My introduction to painting was in my father’s studio where he instructed me in Russian Impressionism methods. I am most concerned about the emotion a painting exudes than anything else. If I am not inspired, I don’t paint. Without inspiration no matter how wonderfully executed a painting is, if there is no inspiration there is no life in that painting. You can stand in front of a Michelangelo, then a Whistler, then a Graydon Parrish, and know the art of inspired beings.
While driving alone in my car one afternoon, my life and that of the unborn child I was carrying and didn’t know at the time, were saved from certain death by an audible male voice within my car. Miracles do happen.