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Today, an episode that contains more than I bargained for – not only an interview with pet portraitist and art teacher Bivenne Staiger, but a bonus, some instruction by Bivenne in the handling of her preferred medium, watercolor, a medium I’d never adopted. It seemed to require mental gymnastics that my brain is now – maybe always has been — too inflexible for. Also, when I think of watercolor paintings, I picture faint washy, kinda boring landscapes, far from delivering the deep goozhy impact of oils. As for pet portraiture, since August, I’ve been grieving the loss of our sweet cat William, my constant companion of 18 years, and have been thinking about painting yet another picture of him. And around that same time, at the Spectrum Gallery in Centerbrook, I happened on Bivenne’s very alive painting of a dog, “Golden Dachshund,” shown above. The sight of it collided with my vague awareness that pet portraits, especially done on commission, are somehow less respectable than other subjects. This gorgeous watercolor painting of a dog, with its deep darks in the ears and an unfussy sense of movement and expression – well, I’d dare anyone to say it was not art. Long story short, I met Bivenne at the senior Center in Portland, CT, where she teaches watercolor, and we took my prejudices out for a walk. A suggestion: as you listen to the episode look at — and enjoy! — photos of Bivenne’s work below.

Bivenne finds the dog on the right more interested than the other.

She walks us through a portfolio of photos of her work.

She calls this effect a purposeful bloom.

Bivenne’s mother gave her this palette about 50 years ago. Pudge, a late, lamented kitty, liked to chew the edge.

On painting Pudge. The white whiskers were the bare paper; Bivenne painted the negative space around them!

Bivenne takes up each of these in our conversation.

She especially loves birds. The one shown in the upper left was an uninteresting shape so she made the background busy. In the case of the squirrel in the collection above, it was interesting enough that Bivenne left the background plain. Her book White! Light! Bright! is subtitled How to Make Your Backgrounds Support and Enhance Your Watercolor Paintings.

She inscribes a copy for me.

She inscribes a copy to me!

Yet more for your enjoyment! Bivenne exhibits at Spectrum Art Gallery in Centerbrook, CT. If you’re interested in purchasing art or in her watercolor classes, you can email her at bivenne@yahoo.com.

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You know, I think I’ve yet to meet an artist who wasn’t interesting but Dmitri Wright takes interesting to a whole ‘nother level. As a young man growing up in Newark, NJ, he discovered art by way of a teacher who noticed and encouraged his talent. He was classically trained in what’s known as The Academy, an Old World system in which students work under the tutelage of a master who corrects them down to their posture as they learn to draw extremely precisely from plaster casts of classical statuary, among other sources.

Dmitri was so good at this that he earned a prestigious scholarship, one of several honors, and ultimately took over for the master. But along his artistic path – which included several serious health crises requiring major surgery, the lessons from which he turned to his psychological, emotional and artistic advantage; financial downturns during which he supplemented painting with construction, landscaping, house painting, and roofing; earning a degree in organizational management since he was always finding himself in leadership positions, resulting in his developing new art programs, including the one where I met him, at a national park in Connecticut – yes, there’s a national park in CT, Weir Farm, the only national park, btw, that’s devoted to painting — and then there’s his whole spiritual journey involving meditating and converting to Catholicism, and becoming a Knight of Malta, using his art for charitable causes.

Throughout all this life experience, and kind of like Picasso, the draftsman in him felt his way toward his true artistic destination, which is Dmitri’s case is Impressionism. He loves Impressionism. For him, it’s not so much an artistic style as a way of life, imbued with poetry and embracing Nature. We talked one recent afternoon in his studio in Old Greenwich, CT, and would probably have gone on talking till the sun went down but this is only a one-hour show. If our conversation whets your appetite, you can learn more about Dmitri at here.

Dmitri works in a converted two-car garage at the home he shares with his wife Karen in a rolling landscape in Old Greenwich, CT. Shown are some examples from his more classical drawing days along with his most recent work.

In teaching about Impressionism, he adapted a graphic to include women.

Dmitri credits his teacher, Samuel Brecher, and his uncle, Melvin Shoats, with helping him develop into an artist and a “gentleman.”