Meet the Artist – Sally Hausfrau

A painter, a mother, a political ponderer, and an aesthetic adept, Sally Hausfrau has been creating art ever since she was a child. She has submitted several pieces to the Monthly White Art challenge in the past, and we reached out to collaborate with her for an interview, to give readers insight into her start as an artist and her inspirations, and hopefully give her, and her art, some of the recognition we believe it deserves.

How would you describe yourself as an artist?

I would maybe call my style of painting and drawing, which are my main ways of working, 2-D sculpting. I spend a lot of time sort of carving out the forms with lines and defining the relationships between the shapes. Sometimes the painting or drawing as a product is just kind of a pleasant bonus, when most of the process was just me trying to understand what I am looking at.

When and how did you first get interested in making art?

I have been drawing as long as I can remember. I can even recall an instance, I had to have been maybe 4 or 5, and I can vividly remember breaking down sobbing at the kitchen table because I couldn’t draw hands. My mother, poor woman, tried to tell me, “oh honey, hands are hard. Why not just make circles instead…” which of course only made me feel more disgusted and misunderstood. The tortured artist is born, not made.

Who or what are some of the inspirations behind your artwork?

Well as far as artists, my favorite is El Greco. He was really totally beyond categorization, beyond his time. And his work is so unmistakable. I want people to look at my artwork and recognize the style as mine. The artist is like a lens, focusing on certain things and even exaggerating them sometimes without realizing it, so the resulting painting is like seeing through their eyes, which is a really incredible thing, sort of transcendental.

What’s one of your major goals as an artist?

I really want to create a dedicated studio space. Right now I kind of just paint and draw wherever, usually the dining room. So that limits things a bit but it also pushes me to focus on bringing a piece to a finished state in a reasonable amount of time. But with a studio I think I could develop my technique more deeply. I tend to be pretty rough and raw, which is okay, but I struggle with refinement. Mostly I just want to make art that people want to have in their homes. Something that really speaks to them and enhances the space. I have some of my own art hanging up, but often I find it hard to keep staring at my own work. I see things about it I want to change. So I like when the art finds a new home.

What’s one of your works that you’re most proud of and why?

Well I recently did a large painting of a donkey and a cow, and I just really enjoyed doing it. And I think that comes through in the painting itself; it has a very easy gentle look. I was working with a fairly limited color palette, just raw umber, burnt sienna, Windsor blue, cad yellow, and white. I like imposing rules or limits on myself, like a challenge to see how I can resolve it. Prior to that I had done one that came to me in a dream, with a horse and girl, and that has this ethereal haunting feel, so different from the peaceful pastoral scene with the donkey. But they were both done with that same limited palette, yielding totally different results.

You mentioned that you like to impose rules or limits on yourself when making art. When did you start doing that? Was there something that sparked the idea in your head?

I think a lot of the idea came from simple necessity, being poor and having to be very selective about materials I could afford. And then through that realizing how much those apparent restrictions freed me to focus on the work at hand, instead of struggling with this paralysis of too many choices, too many variables. So even when I do have a wider field of options, I intentionally keep it narrowed down. It lends cohesion to the piece.

What’s the best piece of artistic advice that you’ve ever received, or that you could give to others?

That’s a great question. Well you often hear it said, don’t wait for inspiration. When you have a work in progress, take time everyday to work on it, even if you don’t “feel” like it. And I agree. But I also think there’s a benefit to seeing things with fresh eyes. Get into your work, really dig in, but if you’re struggling with some aspect, it’s okay to put the brushes down and come back the next day. Sometimes you just need some rest, some processing time, and you are able to see the big picture again. We artists can be a bit obsessive, so sometimes we need permission to just step away and come back later. It’s amazing the difference a day can make.

Where to find Sally Hausfrau

If you would like to see more of Sally’s work, follow her on Telegram.

How to become a creator on Print Revolt

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