Artists of Note | Eileen Corse - Southwest Art Magazine

Making a splash

Eileen Corse, Drifting, oil, 36 x 48.

This story was featured in the September 2020 issue of Southwest Art magazine. Get the Southwest Art September 2020 print issue or digital download now–then subscribe to Southwest Art and never miss another story.

A YOUNG girl in a red polka-dot bathing suit plunges into the turquoise depths of a swimming pool, creating an explosion of fizzy bubbles all around her. It’s easy to imagine watching this lively scene—a perfect snapshot of the joie de vivre of youth—while lounging poolside with a cold lemonade. Florida artist Eileen Corse, however, is usually in the pool, enthusiastically snapping photographs with her GoPro camera as her grandchildren splash, float, snorkel, dog paddle, and glide through the water freestyle. “Water really is life,” reflects Corse. “It just makes you feel wonderful.”

: Eileen Corse, Diving Diva, oil, 48 x 48.

: Eileen Corse, Dot Dot Dip, oil, 60 x 40.

: Eileen Corse, Aqua Race, oil, 48 x 60.

The artist’s swimming-pool and beach photography is the inspiration behind her large-scale, figurative oil paintings that carry titles like AQUA RACE and BUBBLE BOMBS AWAY—playful phrases that convey the movement she captures in her imagery. The girl in the red polka-dot suit—Corse’s granddaughter—stars in her 5-foot-tall painting DOT DOT DIP. Choosing which reference photographs to use is easy, says Corse: “I figure if it makes me happy, it will make someone else happy.”

Working exclusively with palette knives, the artist paints alla prima in swift, broad strokes, creating impasto surfaces that heighten the sense of movement in the bubbles and glittering water around her figures. “From a distance, my paintings look realistic, and then you get up close and see they’re just blobs and dashes,” says Corse. “I want my paintings to be fun to look at.” The artist’s water series has attracted collectors from around the United States and beyond. —Kim Agricola

Corse is represented by www.eileencorse.com and fine-art galleries across the country.