Here is a newly completed portrait commission, along with some progress shots. I generally start with a pretty detailed drawing. Next, I lay in some transparent oil washes with turp or mineral spirits to establish basic colors and values, then jump right in to the head and hands. Finishing is always the hardest part!
Their Story is Our Story; Giving Voice to Refugees
An inside look into why I helped create Their Story is Our Story - a nonprofit dedicated to the telling of refugees’ stories. (Written in 2017).
My path to this project has three separate beginnings. One is my lifelong love affair with humans. I have always been fascinated with people, both in an artistic and a personal sense.
Another beginning runs deep. Most of my ancestors came from Europe. They came to the U.S. for various reasons and at various times, some as early as the 1600s, others not until the mid 19th Century, but all looking for a better life for their families. Then there came a time when their new country denied them that better life and they were forced from their homes because of their religious beliefs. They became refugees, leaving their homes behind yet again to start over. I am a result of the grit, faith, and community that built deep foundations for their new life in the desert.
Fast forward to 2006. My husband and I accepted a job in Germany. It was my first experience living in a foreign place. The language and culture barriers very quickly became overwhelming. Thanks in part to some inherited grit and faith, but especially to the kindness and patience of so many people in and around our little town of Bad Soden, I found a place for me and my family there. And subsequently in England. And now back in the U.S. There are times when we all need a friend, a hand of help, or just someone to understand.
Now we watch as floods of refugees fill camps around the world, most recently in Europe. Having been a ‘stranger in a strange land’ myself, and having ancestors who were forced from their homes, I feel I cannot turn my back on others who have been forced from their homes. I want to help. I first wanted to use my talents and time in a project that would raise awareness. But it has become clear that just raising awareness is not enough. We are a society that is hyper-aware of headlines bouncing off the page, the screen, into our minds and out again. We have forgotten how to stop and listen, to understand, to have empathy. We are already aware of the Refugee Crisis. What I want to do is create a connection - a place for a conversation to begin. To give society a moment to stop and put themselves in another’s shoes, and treat the other as they would like to be treated.
I believe art, in its many forms has the power to do this. Uffe Elbaek, former Danish Minister of Culture said, “We need new ideas, we need new ways of doing things and we need a whole new way of approaching each other with much more empathy and understanding. This means that the rest of society really needs to focus on the world of art and culture as a vital source for not only solutions, but also ways of finding solutions… and a whole new concept of what a valuable life really means.”
My hope is that our work in TSOS will advocate for refugees by helping others understand the challenges that displaced people face, and have empathy for them. Any type of global crisis requires help from all sides. I hope my work will inspire others to find their own way to come to the rescue.
KSL Feature
Thank you Studio 5 at KSL for making this feature. I try to share why this project with TSOS has been meaningful to me as a person and as an artist.
https://studio5.ksl.com/utah-woman-tells-refugee-stories-through-art/
Story Withheld
Everyone has a story: sentences and chapters that explain why we do, say, think, and feel. A story is an invitation to understanding and a doorway to Self. But what if parts of a story are too painful to share, too dangerous to open? There is a mutual fear that prevents a mutual hope of understanding between people. Patient sincerity and willingness to listen, unprejudiced, can help create a safe space where connections happen. May we all have and be that person for someone.
Story Withheld will be shown in the Springville Spring Salon. Opening reception April 24.
ARC Salon Finalist
I was pleased to hear my painting, Holding On was a finalist in the Art Renewal Center's International Salon. All finalists and award winners can be seen here https://www.artrenewal.org/13thARCSalon/Category/Portraiture
Etta
I just finished a portrait of this darling and precocious little girl.
Process of a painting
I thought I would post a few process shots of "A Message to the World." This doesn't include preliminary work, like taking photos, setting up a shot, doing a drawing and color study. But it gives you an idea of how I tackle the bare canvas.
A Message to the World
“The world is indeed full of peril, and in it there are many dark places; but still there is much that is fair, and though in all lands love is now mingled with grief, it grows perhaps the greater.”
J.R.R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring
There are currently 22.5 million refugees in the world; over half of them are children. They have fled violence, conflict, and intense persecution in the hope that the rest of the world will show some humanity. These three boys fled violence and persecution in Afghanistan, undertook perilous journeys with their families, and landed in a refugee camp in Greece where I met them. One of them trailed me all day, wanting to play, laugh, hold hands and watch me draw. The others scuffled in the dirt, took turns on the one bicycle in the camp, bossed the younger children, annoyed the teenage girls, struck endless ‘peace’ and ‘love’ poses for the camera, and generally got underfoot, all with the youthful optimism of a Cub Scout. Their future is uncertain and their past is gone forever. This precarious position could understandably inspire fear, mistrust and despair. Yet so often it is the children who are able to rise above the rhetoric of fear and show us all what humanity really means.
(This painting will hang in the 'Certain Women' art show in Salt Lake City and Provo, UT from March 2 - May 5, 2018. Full image coming to the website soon...)
World Refugee Day
Today is World Refugee Day. I want to share this painting I just finished of a friend I met in a refugee camp last year. She comes from a world where it is dangerous for a woman to be educated or outspoken. So I wasn't surprised by her apparent shyness. But as I watched her and learned about what she has been through, I understood the quiet depths in her eyes and was touched by her gracious kindness. I think there must be a certain pain that only mothers who have lost a child know. Is that pain worse when your child's mutilated body is delivered back to you by the kidnappers? Maybe someday I will be able to ask her, in a common language, and find out what keeps her going. In the meantime, I treasure her example and friendship.
Holding On, Holding Up (detail)
I have been working on this portrait of two sweet girls from Syria. They fled with their parents to Germany, seeking safety and hope for a peaceful future. I have tried to keep the brushwork expressive in an attempt to communicate the upheaval and turmoil so many young people are experiencing at an early stage in their lives. They live in uncertainty, but are remarkably resilient and cheerful in bad conditions. They hold up the best they can, and hold on to the things that are most important: family, faith and hope.
In Progress
This is a shot of my first large painting for the Their Story is Our Story Project. I am about a third of the way finished.
Interview with Zion Art Society
http://www.zionartsociety.org/an-interview-with-elizabeth-thayer/
AN INTERVIEW WITH ELIZABETH THAYER
Posted on June 17, 2016 by Eric Biggart
> I was born and raised in Orem, Utah. I recently moved back to Orem after 15 years of living on the East Coast and in Europe. Just after graduating from High School, I took a tour at BYU. I had previously considered teaching and engineering as possibilities, but then I walked into the Illustration Studio, and knew that is where I wanted to be. That first year studying art, I started seeing the world a different way, and found a passion for creating through drawing and painting. I graduated from BYU with a degree in Illustration. I also attended Masters programs at Syracuse University and UNC Greensboro.
> As time goes by, I look at more and more artists and hopefully am influenced by many of them. I would have to say that the ones who have been most influential early on in my career are John Singer Sargent, Burton Silverman, Richard Schmid, and Greg Manchess.
> Over time, I like to think I have become more skillful with paint and brush and, I hope, better at creating a compelling and meaningful picture, but my subject matter has stayed fairly constant. I work mainly in oil paint on linen. I draw with charcoal or nupastel. My paintings usually begin with something I see. It could be a certain expression or pose in someone that says something about their personality. It could be a situation, a glimpse of a scene as I pass by, or part of a person’s story I want to tell. It is this conceptual aspect that makes the idea compelling. I think about the idea for a long time. I work really hard on designing the painting, usually in sketch form. I think composition is really important. From there, I sometimes do a small color study (the painting generally turns out better if I do) and start on the final painting. I usually begin with an underdrawing on the canvas, to place the subject correctly. Then I paint. And then sometimes my process is completely different. The fun thing about painting is that the more new ways of doing things you try, the more you learn. Finishing is always the hardest part. I prefer to paint alla prima, and I find if it is taking me too long, I lose momentum.
> My normal routine is that I wake up early, exercise, change a diaper, make breakfast, clean it up, do a load or two of laundry, dress the baby, think about what is on my easel as I get kids to school and/or lessons. Do housework. Have a make-believe tea party with a four-year-old. Run upstairs to the studio to look at what is on my easel. Make lunch and clean it up. Pay bills and send emails. Sketch some ideas. Wipe noses. Make phone calls, bandage knees, buy birthday presents, check to see the cucumber plants are getting enough water. Race kids to the park and enjoy the weather. Think about dinner. Remember that there is something upstairs on my easel. Revise dinner plans, write a grocery list, cook and clean up. Read stories, say prayers, kiss foreheads. Sweep the floor. Squeeze in as much painting as possible before dropping into bed.
> My ideal location for my art is on walls, galleries, museums, books, anywhere. The richest things in life are our relationships with other people. I hope that my work, whether commissioned portraits or figurative work or published paintings, will help connect people and strengthen relationships.
> I have a few portrait commissions I am working on, an illustrated book, and a few personal paintings. The thing that is taking most of my time right now is a project called Their Story is Our Story; Giving Voice to Refugees. I have teamed up with a photographer, a videographer and an author to visit some of the European refugee camps, learn the stories of some of the people there, and tell them through paintings, drawings, photographs and video. We have a great team of volunteers set up to help us through the logistics of getting there and back. Our initial hope was to raise awareness, but we as a people are already aware of the Refugee Crisis. What I want to do is create a connection – a place for a conversation to begin. To give society a moment to stop and put themselves in another’s shoes, and treat the other as they would like to be treated. I think art has power to create connections between people and to teach empathy. And I think connections that turn into relationships and empathy are very important in the world today. This is a kind of art I have always wanted to get involved in, so I am really excited to be part of the project.
> My hope is to put together an exhibition of the drawings, paintings, photographs and videos from TSOS that people could see and experience in person. For this to work, we would need funds for putting the show together and transferring the artwork as well as help finding venues, publicizing, etc. I think it would generate interest, and have an impact on people’s lives.
> I want my art to have an impact on people here and now. I guess I would like it to be remembered by the fact that those who have been influenced by it live their lives in a better way.