International Prize Winners

All the Prize Winners in our International Artist Magazine Challenge No. 112

All the Prize Winners in International Artist magazine Challenge No. 112, Favorite Subjects

Lesley Thiel North Carolina, USA, Honey, oil, 36 x 25" (91 x 63½ cm)

Grand Prize is a four-page editorial feature in American Art Collector magazine Natural Connections

Self-taught painter Lesley Thiel has had a wide-reaching career in art, where she first began as an equine painter and turned to the more classical figurative works after eight years. Her paintings can be described as contemporary realism with elements of magical realism. Thiel says her style is realistic, but it cannot be identified as hyperrealism or photorealism.

“My style is quite tight and I work with a relatively limited palette, which I find helps create color harmony,” she says. “I work with small sable brushes and sable blenders to create an almost brushstroke free surface, especially on the skin. The most important element of any of my painting is the model. I want to try and communicate their emotions and vulnerability in my work, so that they pull the viewer into their story.”

Theil’s inspiration comes from nature and human’s relationship with it. “I have felt a deep connection to the natural world since I was a child. I think many children feel this way. That’s why I mostly paint young girls and young women, and tell stories of their connection to the earth,” Theil explains. Her current series features one model—10year-old Addie, who she dresses in whimsical headdresses and collars “to express my ideas about the restrictions placed upon girls and their empowerment.”

Each composition begins with a single element of inspiration and grows from there. Sometimes it’s a flower, others times it’s the the pose the model has struck. “I will do a small sketch of the idea with the flow and shapes I envision. Then I move various elements in it, leaving and returning, thinking and changing, until I have all the pieces that I think are right,” the artist says. “All too often, an idea will not work when it is made visual, mostly because I have made it too complicated. I find most compositions simplify as they progress.”

My Inspiration

The inspiration for this painting was a walk in the Mashomack Preserve on Shelter Island, New York. There was a meadow full of enormous thistle flowers, and many of them were covered with bees frantically sucking down nectar. The bees were oblivious to us, and to the good they do for humanity, both by pollinating and by gifting us honey. In this painting, my model Addie wears a crown of dead jasmine vines. Jasmine represents appreciation and good luck. She is surrounded by butterflies, which are also pollinators, and which want to share in the gift. In her crown sits a female ruby-throated hummingbird. Symbolically, the hummingbird is the healer and bringer of love and joy.

My Design Process

My design begins with the figure and the elements I know I want to include. In this case, it was the thistles with bees, the butterflies and the hummingbird. I wanted the hummingbird to be prominent, but also unobtrusive. The thistles needed to show their glorious color, but not overpower the composition. I chose a relatively dark and mysterious background that creates a V-shape around my model, and cools the imagery. I then arranged the thistles and butterflies in a loose, left leaning oval to counterbalance my model’s slight rightward tilt, while echoing the shape created by her arms. The choice of butterfly was designed to echo the color of the honey.

My Working Process

I work on birch panel, which I seal and gesso, and then sand to a smooth surface. I do a very detailed and accurate drawing. My underpainting is with pure oil paint, and fills in the main details of the drawing. I do not thin my oil paints for my underpainting. Once the underpainting is dry, I add the detail layer using fine brushes, and soft sables for blending. When the second layer is dry, I return to the painting to glaze areas, add further details, or correct areas. I premix and tube colors I use regularly, such as my 10 skin tones, or the base shade used for the dress in the painting.

Contact Details

Email: lesley@lathiel.com Website: www.lathiel.com