Madison Originals Magazine Madison Originals Magazine May 2014 | Page 32

chunk of time to work. I can’t put it off
till tomorrow because the subject might
be in a totally different condition by then.
But when I’m drawing, I’m just staring,
staring, staring, observing, observing,
observing, so it’s a quiet thing.”
“I don’t work from photographs ever,”
says Andy. “I work outside. If I go down
to a place that’s popular on the river,
people get out of their cars and I’m sitting
there painting, sitting there painting, and
it’s taking me a long time and people get
out of their cars and take their picture in
front of the water and then leave. They
are completely disconnected from the
river. Over the course it took me to do
that painting, it changed. I was sitting
there looking at it, and looking at it,
and looking at it and I saw the wind die
down. Or a cloud goes by and the whole
color changes and that’s such a different
experience. And the river’s like that. It
just takes time and energy to really be
connected to those things and there are
no shortcuts.”

spent on location: the sun beating down
or the wind blowing the grass. Katie
delivers the goods from those hours: the
butterflies plucked from the prairie, the
ferns growing by the brook, the turtles
that hatched from a nest in the yard.

There is a visceral quietude in the work,
and strong sense of connection to place.
“There’s a totally different sense of time
here,” Katie conveys. “There is a rush,
because I have to sit down in one big

Andy and Katie echo one another. It
draws you into the work, to know they
are creating in a similar way, in a similar
space. They reveal their shared life in
unique ways. “Being with another artist,
I think I’m much more calm,” Andy
says. “I feel technically a lot better. More
creative. Understood.” Katie agrees, “You
never feel like a weirdo. We both get to
a point where we just need to work, just
make work all day. It’s nice to be able to
say, “I just need a day,” and know that
you’re not being selfish. I think we both
miss having a more normal schedule
sometimes. Andy functions on the sun,
literally, if a storm rolls in or something,
you have to go capture it.”
To be understood is one thing, but what I
really recognize in Katie and Andy is the
deep appreciation they have not only for
one another, but also for the community
and environment that surrounds them.
They revel in nature and reckon time
well spent: fishing on the Mississippi,
shopping locally, and sharing the place
they love so well. “When I’m painting
outside, it’s relaxing for me,” Andy
explains. “Being on the river, doing
things outside, and spending time with
friends, it brings me balance. When you
work by yourself, it’s important to spend

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