Room for interpretation
Katie J. Liddiard, Autumn Remnants, oil, 18 x 28.
This story was featured in the December 2019/January 2020 issue of Southwest Art magazine. Get the Southwest Art December 2019/January 2020 print issue or digital download now–then subscribe to Southwest Art and never miss another story.
AS A CHILD, Katie J. Liddiard explored a variety of interests and hobbies that, in turn, prompted many exciting ideas about what she wanted to be when she grew up. There were a few major contenders, recalls Liddiard, chuckling: “My top three career choices were astronaut, artist, or professional soccer player.”
Today the Utah native is still an astronomy buff and a soccer enthusiast, but it was her passion for fine art that won out. She studied traditional drawing and painting intensively, first at the Florence Academy of Art in Italy, and then at the Masters Academy of Art in Provo, UT. After graduating in 2014, she served as the school’s assistant director for four years before making the leap into painting full time. The artist has been ex-ploring a looser, leaner painting style ever since. “The Masters Academy is about getting those drawing skills to absolute perfection,” she explains. “But for me, it has been about how to edit and get rid of information but still hold the integrity of what I’m portraying.”
-
- Katie J. Liddiard, August Mums, oil, 12 x 24.
-
- Katie J. Liddiard, Blue Relics, oil, 20 x 22.
-
- Katie J. Liddiard, Copper Lion and Broken Eggs, oil, 14 x 20.
While she counts old masters like Émile Friant and Rembrandt van Rijn as important influences, Liddiard describes herself as an impressionist. Color is her primary vehicle of expression. Take her painting AUGUST MUMS, which garnered the silver medal at Oil Painters of America’s national exhibition last May. The composition features a vase of bright yellow blooms, all loosely painted with lost and found edges galore. One blossom nearly fades into the shadows. “But it tells you it’s a mum,” notes the artist. “It tells you the vibrancy of those petals.”
-
- Katie J. Liddiard, November Copper, oil, 14 x 18.
-
- Katie J. Liddiard, Pink and Green, oil, 9 x 12.
-
- Katie J. Liddiard, Red Lotus, oil, 11 x 14.
Liddiard is also a proficient portrait artist, but in still-life paintings she feels freer to portray her subject matter imaginatively. The genre also offers her opportunities to create quiet, soothing arrangements that reflect the peaceful moments she savors in her own life, particularly when spending time outdoors. On the land around her home in Provo, Liddiard forages for tree branches, leaves, thistles, butterflies, and even birds to collect and later paint. Still-life painting, explains the artist, is a way to “harness” and to share with viewers what she personally finds unique and beautiful about her subjects, whether it’s the green patina on an old copper platter or the crimped edges of a broken robin’s egg. “With portraits, I feel like I have to represent a person,” says Liddiard. “With objects, I get to interpret them.” —Kim Agricola
representation
www.katieliddiardart.com
-
- Katie J. Liddiard, Self-Portrait at 31, oil, 48 x 24.
-
- Katie J. Liddiard, Spring Bunch, oil, 12 x 8.
This story was featured in the December 2019/January 2020 issue of Southwest Art magazine. Get the Southwest Art December 2019/January 2020 print issue or digital download now–then subscribe to Southwest Art and never miss another story.
MORE RESOURCES FOR ART COLLECTORS & ENTHUSIASTS
• Subscribe to Southwest Art magazine
• Learn how to paint & how to draw with downloads, books, videos & more from North Light Shop
• Sign up for your Southwest Art email newsletter & download a FREE ebook