Artist's Statement

 I’m a landscape painter working in Silk, Oil, Acrylic, Pastels; media that blur “Fine Art” and “Fine Craft”.   With my passion for Oil Bars (oil paints in a solid stick form) and Oil Pastels as my mediums of choice, as well as recent explorations in traditional French Silk painting techniques, I am constantly exploring the fine line between drawing and painting. I love to use alternating thick and thin layered vibrating lines of contrasting colors and smooth color washes to express the contour and vibrant energy of the earth around us.    

 

Originially from South-western Virginia in the Blue Ridge Mountains, my love of nature and the contrasts of land and sky are illustrated in a painterly combination of color and line. My rich and intensely colorful representational and abstracted landscapes are about expressing a sense of belonging, of safety, of home.  I try to draw you in and give you a sense of  the majesty and the variety of the earth I inhabit in the Virginia countryside. Along with my use of brilliant colors, these techniques are combined to give a peaceful  yet challenging landscape or abstract painting. 

 

Whether realistic, impressionist,  or abstracted all my paintings start with nature.  Some favorite subjects of my art are back roads,  the sunset's light illuminating the hills the distance, the unusual shape of trees in shadow…  all leading you to wonder what is around the corner or how the sky will change next. 

 

As a landscape painter working in Oil and Oil Pastels, I was frustrated that people admiring my art felt they could not pick up and run their hands over the surfaces of the work I created. When I discovered Silk Painting it seemed to be the answer to several questions:  How to produce art in a medium people felt comfortable with that also reached outside the world of “fine Art” and was accessible in the world of “Fine Craft”? How could I incorporate my love of nature into a wearable craft to wear?  How could I further explore my love of nature in light and dark, color and contrasts?

 

In all my art I try to recreate the emotions I feel when recalling a place… The sultry heat of a summer afternoon, the soft light of a misty morning across a valley or open field, the layering of shadows under a clump of trees where I used to love to hide, the vastness and changeablilty of the skies over Virginia.  All of this I hope to share from my emotions and my memories.  I strive to give you a genuine sense of place while at the same time of rest, of joy, of quiet beauty, of repose.

 

I have been most influence in my work by Ann Aves Martin (who studied with and was influenced by Wolf  Kahn), Mr. Kahn's teachings which grew out of his own studies of  Abstract Expressioninsm in the 1950's, the Impressionists with their study of the natural  contrasts of light and shadow, and by Rothko with his studies of human response to color against color.

 

BIO

Wynn Creasy is a Landscape Artist Based in Springfield, VA.  She is known for her passionate landscapes of the Virginia country side, and her use of intense color in Silk paintings for home décor, as well as oil and oil pastels to recreate the sensations of her childhood in Virginia in her 2-d work.

 

She was born in Bedford, VA the second child of four, July 23, 1957 to Nadine and Earl Creasy. She was influenced heavily in her early life through the love of music her father had and inherited his musical talents. Her early life was filled with turmoil included alcoholic family issues, sexual abuse, and time spent in orphanages around the country.

 

Wynn's many talents were evident early in her life. She attended James Madison University at the age of 15, but dropped out of school to pursue her love of dance and musical theatre. At 19 She was awarded a scholarship to return to college and attend Virginia Commonwealth University where she graduated in 1984 with a BA degree in Vocal performance. From there she was a scholarship student with the Blossom Festival School, a part of the Cleveland Orchestras Summer Program, where she came under the attention of such noted instructors as Martin Katz, Jay Lessenger, Marlene Malas. Wynn was then awarded a scholarship to attend the Hartt School of Music where she was groomed for a career in Opera by Adelaide Bishop then head of the Opera Program.

 

After finishing her artist diploma at Hartt, Wynn was accepted as a member of the Apprentice program for Singers at the Santa Fe Opera, and immediately landed a contract as resident artist with the Connecticut Opera in Hartford, CT. Her career after that included stints with the Baltimore opera, Connecticut Opera, Washington Opera, and many concerts across the US. She was chosen to premiere David MacBride's pieces for Singer and String Quartet Nocturne De le Ventana at Weill Concert Hall, NY in 1989.

 

Wynn soon decided to settle in the Washington DC area. She sang professionally for the Washington Opera until 1993. At which time she retired from the stage to devote herself full-time to her teaching career.

 

Since  starting to paint in 2003 She has been building a name for herself online and in several national art competitions and winning numerous competitions. 

 

Her art work has been praised as

"...through subtle shadings and layerings of contrasting and complementary hues and values. Her palette of colors and shadings seems unlimited particularly in her larger scale works. Yet, she avoids the trap of relying solely on colors for appeal. In many pieces the colors are not necessarily the real colors of nature. Although, like Creasy, many would argue that all colors are found in nature. Creasy seems able to mix the colors of the seasons across the seasons and that gives her work a timeless quality not often defined in landscapes."

“The strength of her compositions is often the way vertical forms, notably trees, arise from horizontal plateaus. Many of her pieces tie in a mysterious road to nowhere which both competes with and enhances the focal points of the works. "

 ( Trudi Van Dyke - Elan Magazine December 2007)

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