Amanda Milliner is an award-winning, professional oil painter. She paints in a representational style from life, both outdoors and in her home studio located in central Maryland. The artist has been showing her work for over 20 years and is known for her use of vibrant colors and alla prima painting techniques. Alla Prima is an Italian term for 'all at once' or paintings completed in one sitting.
Amanda holds a BFA from The Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA) in Baltimore. She competes and displays her artwork in regional ‘plein air’ painting competitions, gallery shows, as well as in national juried exhibitions for the Oil Painters of America (OPA) and the American Impressionist Society (AIS).
Amanda's Inspiration
Q. What was the inspiration of the piece or process?
Amanda: Welcome to my home studio! I paint still life, figure, and landscape directly from life and without the use of photographs, which is called observational painting. As a contemporary impressionist, I am interested in seeing and interpreting color as well as exploring light effects. I paint in a representational style, which means that I am depicting my subject as I see it in reality without abstracting it to the point of it being unrecognizable to the viewer. I am striving to show depth, form, and the nuances of color to describe my subjects. The painting itself is my own interpretation of what I am seeing and not an exact copy. This piece is a large 24x36 inch still life painting that I have been working on in the studio. Sometimes I really enjoy stretching out on a big piece of canvas. It helps me to loosen up my brushwork and concentrate on large shapes, instead of details.
Q. What type of planning do you do for your paintings?
Amanda: I often make sketches when I paint outside, but in the case of this studio painting, much of the planning came during the initial set-up of the still life. Arranging my subject allows me to compose my painting as I am placing objects. I am thinking about the lights and shadows in the scene as well as the balance of color. I have been exploring back-lighting in my work over the past year. I think the idea of light coming in behind the objects, shining through the glasses and bouncing around the surfaces really inspired this piece. I want to catch the feeling of the light at a certain time of day.
Amanda's Process
Materials: I love to use oil paints because of their flexibility. You can work into the painting while it is wet over several sittings, on a large piece like this. I use safflower oil as my medium and will use Mineral Spirits (only with proper ventilation).
Underpainting: The first step is called an underpainting. The underpainting serves as an under-drawing. This part of the painting is very loose and things can be adjusted or moved around. I typically do the underpainting with a neutral earth tone like burnt sienna or transparent oxide red.
Blocking-in Continued: During this stage I also try to be sensitive to color and observe each color in relation to the colors around it.
Developing painting: Once the large shapes are blocked in with color, I will start to refine and break up those large areas into smaller areas of color. I try not to get too detailed within the painting. I am always squinting my eyes to see generalizations instead of exact details.
Light Effects: Impressionism is about capturing light at a certain time of day. The lighting effects must be planned and adhered to throughout the painting because it holds the image together and defines the feeling of the painting through light.
Afternoon sun feels different in a painting than a rainy, overcast day. There are warm lighting situations as well as cool lighting situations. I want the viewer to feel the light coming in the window and have a sense of temperature and time of day.
Finishing touches: I start out painting fast and by the end of the painting I slow down. I try to make deliberate marks. When I feel like there is nothing more that I can add to improve the painting, I know that it is done.
Q. How long did the work take to complete?
Amanda: I often work alla prima, yet with oil paints I think alla prima can extend to - "as long as the paint is wet". I like to do the majority of the painting within the first sitting and add finishing touches while the paint is still wet in a second sitting if needed. However, for a large painting like this, there were several sittings over the course of a week. I spent close to 24 studio hours painting. Of course there are many hours of set-up, canvas prep, framing etc that must also be added in to the entire process.
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