Cindy Zeigler is an Impressionistic oil painter who studies under master impressionist C.W. Mundy. She designs beautiful pieces for private buyers and collectors around the globe. She enjoys painting florals, still lifes and boats. You can see her art on display at Village Arts Framing & Gallery.
Tell us about your artwork. What inspires you?
It is the Old-World Impressionists that inspire me and my paintings. I have always loved that style of painting, and I strive to emulate it in my works of art.
Tell us about your journey as an artist. What first sparked your interest?
Throughout my high school years, I took all the art classes I could! I even tried my hand at oil painting, which I really wanted to do, but determined that I wasn’t very good at it, so I laid it aside. I was under the very false notion that “either you had it, or you didn’t!” And I felt I didn’t.
So, I moved on to other areas of creativity. Finally, 50 years later, I had a very unique opportunity to study under a world-renowned impressionistic artist. That was five years ago. This artist still instructs me, even though nearly 1,000 miles separate us. Being under this tutelage, I learned at a fairly rapid rate. And one thing, I learned, was that painting can be learned! A person just needs to have the “want to” and a good teacher!
Tell us about your art on display in the gallery. What inspired it and what mediums did you use?
Anyone who sees “my wall” at Village Arts Framing and Gallery sees a type of art that is not very represented in the art of a lot of people today. Again – Old World, impressionistic compositions like still lifes, old boats and florals mainly.
I use oil paints on either linen canvas panels or gallery-wrapped stretched canvas. I learned that a variety of paint manipulation makes for a more interesting approach, so I use a variety of tools – different sizes of brushes and palette knives. Thick and thin layer of paint. Action and rest areas in the paintings, usually with a focal point in mind.
It is my goal in my paintings to invite the viewer to “enter into the scene, and enjoy looking around.”
What is your artistic process like?
I paint mostly in my studio using pictures that I have taken, or have been given. I am not good at drawing, so I usually use a grid to lay out the design. I also use a “limited palette,” which means you will find me mostly using a red, a blue and a yellow (the primary colors) along with white and black. I mix all my colors for the painting from these five colors.
A lot of artists feel that this is the more difficult way to paint, but I find it to be the easiest way. If I didn’t mix up enough paint for an area in the painting, it is easy to mix it again, having mixed it from only five colors on my palette. Whereas if I had 15 or so different colors on my palette to remix a color, that would be a different story!
Another note on my process – I use alkyd oil paints by Winsor-Newton. This allows the paint to dry to the touch overnight, so that if I do something on the painting the next day that I don’t like then it is an easy fix – I just wipe it off and go again.
What do you like best about what you do?
A lot of people think painting would be so relaxing. Not so, at least not so all the time. Sometimes, especially early on in learning, it can be frustrating and stressful because your hands don’t seem to not do what your brain wants them to. But as experience grows, so does your knowledge of how to fix mistakes. And the use of the alkyd paints allows fixing mistakes to be easier.
What does a typical day look like for you?
BUSY! A wife, a mother of four, grandmother of 14! It is a balancing act. I try to fit painting in every chance I get. We have made our third bedroom into a full studio for me. So that is nice. I don’t have to set it up or clean it up every time I want to paint. That makes it easier.
How do you like to spend your free time?
Painting!
What's next for you and your art?
Just keep painting and selling …
