Today we’d like to introduce you to Bronle Crosby.
Hi Bronle, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
I was born and raised in San Diego to a family for whom making art was just daily life. Over four generations, we were a pastel painter, a silversmith, a professional photographer, a watercolorist, a muralist, and a rock musician. Some kids got toys for Christmas; we got colored inks, dress-up clothes, guitar lessons, and one magical year, my great-grandmother’s pastels in a dusty wooden case.
Like most artistically inclined people, I always did other things to pay the rent. And yet… always there were drawings to be done, and colored pencils and paints to play with in off hours. And endless classes to take. Some people go to a book club; my kids called my life drawing classes “The Naked Ladies’ Club.” I still call it that, even when I am the one teaching it.
I finally moved out of my corner of the kitchen and into a studio and have been working as a professional painter and portraitist ever since. And I teach when I can–to share the joy and maybe give a creative person a lifeline if they can’t pursue art as full time as they wish.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall, and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
I feel very blessed that, for me, it is usually not a huge struggle to make the art. That road feels fairly smooth. I take photos everywhere I go, and I work from those photos, as well as from images kind friends and photographers share with me; if I have a commission, sometimes I get images from the client. Then, on paper and on the computer, I do the thinking and wrestle with the images: I tweak, compose, change exposures and colors, and focus to get the images as close as possible to the way I want to paint them. Sometimes, an image just never comes together. I tend not to struggle too long in that case; I may set it aside, hoping for insight. Sometimes, I just paint over it.
But yes, there are always struggles: life happens, and just getting into the studio can be hard. Getting the paintings out in front of people is a lot of work, and there are no guarantees. About half an artist’s time goes to marketing and the business of art. It can be difficult to get the right eyes on the work and find the people who relate to it and want to give it a home. But when that happens, it is a real joy– always wonderful when one of my painted children gets adopted.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
We all hope for connection, to somehow touch the infinite. Actors call it Being in The Moment. Athletes call it Being in The Zone. Some people call it Flow. By any name, ‘It’ is that elusive sense of oneness that silences yearning and stops the clock. It allows us to know here and now. When we’re there, we use our expertise and creativity in harmony. It is the state we all hope for from education, meditation, and vacation. It is what I hope for every time I pick up a brush. It is what I hope my images invoke in my viewers.
My paintings are focused natural histories: macro close-ups of the big picture, moments of transition. I paint the widening ripples on the pond between raindrops, the brief, potent interaction of blossom and bee, the breath before the bubble shatters, the moment before the egg releases the chick, or the dewdrop falls from the spider web. Blink, and the moment passes. The paint holds onto it.
Portrait painting is likewise freezing a moment. I love doing them because they are proof that every person’s story deserves to be told. A likeness can come or go with every stroke of brush or pastel. But the elusive goal is also to catch some essential quality of the sitter. If I can capture a person’s spark, it is my contribution to history– and to the descendants who will inherit not only the painting but that nose, those curls, or that twinkle in the eye.
Where we are in life is often partly because of others. Who/what else deserves credit for how your story turned out?
I am grateful for the very talented artists in town who gave of themselves to teach and nurture and who shared new ideas and skills. I got the courage and encouragement to try to be a professional artist from Ken and Stephanie Goldman, Olya Losina, Reed Cardwell, and all the students and others involved in their classes and studios.
Early on, a group of us emerging artists formed a mastermind group to share, support, cheerlead, and research ways and means of marketing and PR; I will be forever grateful for that group: Theresa Donche, Maite Agahnia, Brenda York, Alison Paul, Cree Scudder. Local gallerists Larry Baza and Tom Noel were instrumental in launching our group and represented a few of us, found galleries for one of us out of town, and generally made very encouraging noises! I am indebted to them for their kindness and support.
I am currently active with another mastermind group, Time For Women Artists (TWA); though we each pursue our own disciplines, we come together to share knowledge and support and have shown as a group in galleries and museums in California. There is nothing better than that professional camaraderie.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.bronlecrosbyart.com
- Instagram: @bronlecrosby
Image Credits
Bronle Crosby
Reed Decker
