It can be a shadow-casting ray of light or an interesting accessory that catches her eye. It could be a combination of objects. Whatever it is that inspires Minnie Anderson, she strives to perfectly recreate that moment of inspiration in her paintings.
Her realism, especially in portraits of people, is a practice in discipline.
“I try to get them as close as possible to breathing,” she said of her portraits. “They haven’t started breathing yet—thank goodness.”
Anderson herself, however, has begun taking long, deep breaths, followed by large, free brush strokes punctuated by short, quick ones as she forays into the realm of abstract art. It’s a form Anderson is having fun exploring, but Central Coast audiences that know her for her lifelike realism have been surprised and a bit confused to see her latest offerings.
“We tried it out in our stockbroker’s office, and people would come in and say, ‘That’s not Minnie Anderson’s work. Why do you have her name on it?’” Anderson said. “I think they expect me to do flowers and landscapes and the norm.”
To show off her “other side,” Anderson’s work will be on display at Los Olivos Gallery in an exhibition appropriately titled Minnie Anderson—The Other Side, showing through the end of September.
[image-2] The show is a way to introduce her fans to the abstracts she’s been working on for a local designer, but it’s also a reason for her to delve further into the abstract works, allowing her the freedom to experiment.
“It’s all about the colors,” she explained. “I like blues and reds, and I love metallics. I know they are on the modern, edgy side, but I do: I love a touch of metallic.”
True to that passion, Anderson goes big in her abstract pieces, using large canvases and unabashedly laying down bold blocks of color with accents of metallic shades, such as in her work Gold Rings. Sometimes a touch of metallic becomes the focal point among competing colors, as in Golden River. Other times Anderson goes softer with just a wisp of color, like in her work Firmament.
[image-3] Most people are familiar with Anderson’s traditional side: Her graphite portraits have been on display at Gallery Los Olivos and the Town Center Gallery for years. She’s been capturing memories of the past and present in her heirloom series of children, adults, and animals for most of her career. Her portraits celebrate scenes from everyday life with painstaking realism.
That’s the side Anderson is familiar with as well. She knows where the inspiration comes from, she knows what the process will be, and she knows where it’s going and how it will end. The inspiration is everywhere. She finds it in the simple things she does each day and in the routines of others. Like a snapshot in her mind, she cuts a slice of life and recreates it on canvas.
The process is different with her abstract painting. Whereas in realism she paints from what she sees (she cited a recent inspiration that came from seeing a crossing guard sitting under an umbrella with some books), her abstract paintings come from a place less definable.
“I try to get an idea in my head, but it never ends up there,” she said. “It’s always a new adventure. It’s a ride.”
Anderson has been painting since she was a child. Her mother placed Anderson’s first drawing in her baby book. It was of something that looked similar to a Volkswagen pulling a trailer. She was only three years old and likely didn’t know what a Volkswagen was, but still, the image is clear.
[image-4] “I was sort of a puny kid, so I stayed inside and drew,” Anderson explained, but she revealed that the reclusion wasn’t all that bad. “In Kansas, it was either 100 degrees or 10 below, so staying inside could be nice.”
Anderson remembers painting or drawing on everything and anything, from paper to closet doors to walls. Art, to a child, is a practice in creativity, in freedom, with no boundaries or ideas on how it should look. Delving into abstract art has given Anderson a youthful, fresh perspective once again.
“It’s a new adventure,” she said. “It’s exciting, fun, and scary and everything.”
Arts Editor Shelly Cone is delving into a fresh perspective right now. Contact her at scone@santamariasun.com.
This article appears in Sep 10-17, 2009.