Page 7 - The Clare Connection_Summer 2019 Flipbook

“I picked up this painting that was in the garbage,
and it just came together. It was almost spiritual.”

ARTIST PROFILE

Nancy Lee Spilove: The Meditation

and Precision of Sumi-e Painting

Mum in Purple

When a painting is complete, it gets stamped with a chop
mark, she says, which is unique for each artist. She has two
inscribed chops, for example, one that says Nancy Lee and
another that says beautiful young swan.
Of the numerous Sumi-e paintings Nancy Lee has done
through the years, her favorite is one she named “Wishful.”
It was one she started and didn’t like where it was going,
Wishful
so she tossed it in the wastebasket. When painted another
night after supper, she ended up with a lot of paint left over,
“It doesn’t sound like much, but when you’re used to doing and she recalled the painting in the trash.
it another way, to get yourself to do it this way takes some
training,” she says. “I thought I would use it for something, so I picked up this
painting that was in the garbage and it just came together,”
When learning Sumi-e, artists begin by practicing the Four
Gentlemen, which represent the four seasons: an orchid for Nancy Lee says. “It was almost spiritual.”
spring, bamboo for summer, chrysanthemum for autumn, Today, it has been about five years since Nancy Lee last
and a plum blossom for winter. The Four Gentlemen allow finished a piece, but her love for Sumi-e hasn’t faltered. She
artists to experiment with their brushstrokes. especially recognizes the value, purpose and peace it has
brought to her life.
“The orchid is a very simple line, but it lets you start
controlling the brush and applying pressure differently,” “My heart just hasn’t been in it, but that may mean this is the
Nancy Lee explains. “This is how you start learning how time I need it most,” she says. “Maybe if I get back into it, I’d

to paint.” be at ease.”