Feb 12, 2004

Almaden artist Cindy Blain
Latest series, “Coloratura Companions,” is on display at Willow Glen Roasting Company

By Miranda Schultz
Staff Writer

The definition of an artist can be as frivolous as the definition of art itself. The dictionary defines art as the human effort to imitate, supplement, alter, or counteract the work of nature.

Cindy Blain is an Almaden artist. She creates. She paints. Her efforts to imitate, supplement, alter, or counteract the work of nature are evident at the Willow Glen Roasting Company, where her series, “Coloratura Companions,” decorates the walls until Feb. 29.

Born in New Jersey and well traveled throughout the East Coast as a child, Blain has been a resident of Almaden for three years. Before that, she lived in Willow Glen for 13 years. She remembers being fascinated with the way a painter, such as Leroy Niemann, could take colors and make them into a face.

“I was 15 when I first remember being conscious of art. After questioning how someone could make an understandable reality out of colors, my mother, who painted on and off since I was born, began to explain to me the values of art; she made me aware of it.”

Blain doesn’t believe it was something she was born with, but was something she found interest in and desired to learn more about.

“There’s this myth that says people are born with it and it just has to be fostered into them. I think you can be born with a little edge. To me, it’s really a question of pursuing it and spending time with it versus just raw talent,” says Blain.

Upon entering college, Blain had a desire not to be a starving artist, so she pursued a B.A. in art history from Rice University in Texas. After receiving an M.B.A. from Georgia State University, she worked for Tandom Computers for 10 years. After having two children, the idea of painting actually arose, once again.

It wasn’t like Blain forgot about creating art. She pursued other things first. “After I had my second child, my husband, Marc, said, ‘Ok, I’m going to build the studio now…’ and I thought it was a great idea.”

When she was younger, Blain wasn’t much interested in watercolor because of all of the techniques involved, “There are so many things to know, I didn’t want to take the time to learn about it when I was younger. When I was older, it seemed more interesting and I decided to try it. Plus, I figured having watercolor, being a water base, around kids would be a much more logical idea,” says Blain.

Logical idea for a water based paint, and a logical mindset to go along with it. “I knew I wouldn’t have the time to do it every day, I knew there would be slow times, and more intense times. I knew some people that said they didn’t reestablish their painting until their kids went to college and I knew that would be too long.”

Blain’s children are a little older now. Nick is 13 and Vivian is10, which means they are more independent, giving her more freedom. She admits that she isn’t an extremely conscientious housewife. “I’m still a Girl Scout leader and I try to cook,” she says, adding a laugh, “but I don’t watch TV or anything; it’s just a juggling act really.”

Her latest series, “Coloratura Companions,” which is hanging in the Willow Glen Roasting Company, is of mixed media. She uses watercolor and gouache with wax resist, watercolor crayons and pencils, and soft pastels. Her paintings are not like traditional watercolors, the colors are opaque and bold, yet soft with vigorous line.

“Color has always been my inspiration. I feel that color has the first impact, then line and texture are probably the second impact,” she says. Blain remembers always painting colorfully, and wanting to paint different colors. She also experiments with monotypes, a printmaking process.

Blain uses a mixture of visual stimulus for her paintings, from her imagination to photographs, to enhance certain shapes or ideas. She has always been fascinated in faces. “The color of something,” she says, “will come to me, I will feel a certain color or, or I’ll associate a shape to something I feel, and it just goes from there. It’s always been about color, but it’s about people as well.”

“Anyone who has ever tried anything creative knows that not everything comes out just how it is pictured at first, not everything is perfect.” One of Blain’s favorite quotes is by John Cage, who said, “Out of the work, comes the work.” She is partial to this quote because she gives herself freedom in the studio, and believes that is important.
“I know that everything isn’t going to come out great. I have to paint the bad ones to get to the good ones. If I get one out of five that I like, that’s fine,” says Blain.

Every artist has their habits, how they decide if they like something might be something they know before the paint is dry. Blain likes to, “live with them for a while.” Setting them on two easels in her living room, she’ll read a book and glance up at them from time to time, “Then I’ll decide.”

California has a considerably large market for art. Blain feels that it’s better that way, “With more people interested in art, there’s more of a chance that more will be interested in your art. No matter where you go, some people will like it, and some won’t, but in a larger market, there’s a better chance more people will be in favor of my art. It is all subjective,” she says. She just turns on her classical (or “spacey,” a description she used) music and keep painting, “You have to learn to let go.”

She feels that art should be an immediate experience. Meaning no one should have to tell someone what something means.

As for the financials of the business, Blain has yet to break even, but understands that being successful in a business usually takes three to five years on average. She is hoping to show more, and has just been accepted into the Viewpoints Gallery, which is run by artists, in Los Altos. This will give her the opportunity to have paintings on display on a regular basis with regular representation.

She isn’t expecting to become famous, and she admits that sometimes she asks herself what her purpose in painting is. “I take real pleasure in painting, when I get one I like, it’s so satisfying, it’s a little inexplicable. I like it.”

Blain has had many group shows, and a couple of solo shows over the years, and hopes to get more going as she has more paintings to show. For the past 18 months, she has been president of the Santa Clara Valley Watercolor Society. “The community of artists have been so helpful, from everything up to telling me where to get the best supplies at the best price,” says Blain. She is also a member of both the California Watercolor Society and the San Jose Institute of Contemporary Art. Her purpose, she has found, is to show that being an artist doesn’t have to mean living in a loft in New York City, that it can be a part of everyday life, no matter where you are, in your career, life, or geographically. Being an artist, however one wants to define it, can be an everyday thing.

Chris Carris, owner of the Willow Glen Coffee Roasting Company has made his walls available to local artists for over three years. Blain feels it very generous of him, “Each artist is able to put their work up for a month, and then have a reception at no charge to the artist, and no commission taken on sales.”

The reception for Blain’s “Coloratura Companions” is Feb. 15 from 1-3 p.m., with live music by Jazz Therapy. For more information on Cindy Blain, visit www.cindyblain.com.