In this article, Carol Crenna interviews BC painter and master colourist Mike Svob, SFCA, who says he chooses colours for any subject based on the composition’s light and dark values and on personal preference, not on what the eye sees. A special thank-you to the Federation of Canadian Arts (FCA) for use of this feature.

MIKE: I try to capture what I see, but if I don’t like the colour, I will capture the shape, pattern or lighting, and do what I like with colour. Artists commonly add white to a colour to lighten it, making the painting cold, chalky and dead. This is not as visually interesting as using the transparency of paint layers. When teaching, I sometimes take students’ white paint away.

MIKE : It is about values in the composition. When a good musician plays their instrument, they use its full range. The most important way to use paint’s full potential is with value, not colour. If you don’t employ the full range of tones, paintings become flat, lacking depth and brilliance. Don’t just paint red, paint a tonal range from pinks to crimsons. To begin, I initially plan my dark, mid-tone and light values in large shapes of sky, mountains, trees, but I don’t consider colour until afterward.

MIKE: I just pick colours I like. If you want your painting to look like a particular object, like a mountain or person, you can play endlessly with different colours to achieve it, but you cannot fiddle much with value and shape. They have to be accurate.

MIKE: It is human nature to prefer warm tones. When I moved to BC, I started painting the natural environment’s cool greys, blues and greens, but they looked depressing that way. So I paint it instead with warm colours because I enjoy seeing them.

MIKE: Since I keep most ideas in my head only, I get better results if I complete them in one day. By focusing on it from beginning to end, the shapes, values, colours, edges stay firmly in my mind. Unlike people that plan work in stages or processes, if I leave it for a few hours, when I return it’s like I am starting over. I am currently working on a 3 feet by 7 feet painting that I can’t complete in a day. So I create a sketch, draw it on the canvas, and use a grid to get the proper proportions and shapes in the right place. But each time I come back to it, I need to ask, “What was it I was trying to do here? Try to remember.” After spending hours on it today, I might not remember the concept tomorrow, and will repaint all the same areas over differently.

MIKE: Yes. I encourage them to develop an idea from the beginning, and get it down as fully as they can before stopping so they don’t lose it. That is how they become a better artist.

MIKE: I don’t feel that a painting can ever be done. It can always be better. If it’s overworked, that just means you have to repaint that area over again.

MIKE: Being a practicing artist means that you never “arrive,” you always strive to learn more, to get better. If you feel you’ve exhausted the potential of one medium, start another. A new medium forces you to think and react differently; you must reinterpret and relearn. Some of what’s learned in the second medium can be transferred to the first. As a result, you discover unique ways of communicating through your art. This keeps it interesting.

MIKE: No. I have changed my style many times because I get bored. I paint the painting and then hope that I will find someone to buy it. I have been lucky in this regard.

MIKE: The only part of the practice that remains consistent is that I work big to small: big idea to small, big shape or pattern to small.

MIKE: In the 70s, when there were very few professional artists in Canada, my father-in-law lost his job and became a full-time painter. Despite being in his 50s, he was a great success and this made me realize it was possible. After higher education, I wanted to meet others who made a living at it, and through the Federation of Canadian Artists was able to create a network of diverse painters who shared the same goals. I learned from Kiff Holland, Alan Wylie, Allan Edwards, Brian Johnson and Robert Genn, who became friends. The most important lesson I learned was that to do well, you have to devote yourself to painting full-time, not just talk about it.

MIKE: The latter. The harder you work at it, the “luckier” you get, the more “talented” you become, the more “connections” you find — all reasons artists use to conclude why another person is doing better than they are. However, in my experience, making connections doesn’t make an art career. You can and must find your own audience for your own art. I tried street corners, church basements, bazaars, outdoor fairs, hotel lobbies, restaurant walls…

MIKE: Yes. Right now, I am painting mountains inspired by a month spent trekking in the Rockies last summer. I am in love with what I see in the outdoor world. Being able to spend my life interpreting that through my art is a great privilege.

Mike Svob, SFCA, has been a professional artist for 42 years, painting and instructing art students full-time since 1982. His award-winning watercolours, acrylics and oils feature his signature impressionist style that is easily identified by the use of strong bold colour. Mike has had over 80 solo exhibitions and produced 25 large murals throughout North America. His paintings have been featured in art books, newspapers and magazines throughout North America including International Artist Magazine and Magazin Art. His work is held in many private and corporate collections globally. See more of Mike's artwork online at https://www.mikesvob.com/ and follow him on  Instagram.com/mikesvob

This article was originally written for the Federation of Canadian Artists (FCA) members’ magazine, Art Avenue. The FCA is Canada’s oldest and largest organization established for visual artists across the country, launched in 1941 by members of The Group of Seven. Its successful Vancouver-based gallery, offices, studios and education centre provide art sales, promotion, workshops and networking opportunities for members. The FCA has 14 Chapters across Canada that organize local exhibitions, meetings, workshops, networking opportunities and support for fellow artists in each community, in addition to the programming that takes place from the Vancouver head office.

Learn more about the Federation of Canadian Artists at their website www.artists.ca and follow them on Facebook or Instagram. You can also learn more about the FCA’s Art Avenue Magazine, here www.artists.ca/artavenue

Carol Crenna is the editor of the FCA’s Art Avenue magazine. She has been a journalist for over 35 years for publications in Seattle, Los Angeles, New York, Montreal, Toronto, Calgary and Vancouver. Carol is also a visual artist now working in plaster on canvas, and was formerly a professional illustrator.

Website: www.carolcrenna.com

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/carol-crenna-8b84882b