Peonies and Seashells, oil, 36 x 24 in.
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Romance, beauty, drama – these are the emotional qualities we’ve come to love about classical music. And for Gladys Roldan-de-Moras, music is the art form that serves as the inspiration for her paintings. “I love classical, romantic music like opera,” she says. “When I hear romantic music, I want to try to capture that feeling I get inside, like the feeling I get when I see beautiful light and color. That’s what motivates me to paint.” And when we look at Gladys’s paintings, it’s easy to see the parallel between these two beloved art forms.
Composing In Paint
Much like a composer developing a new piece of music, Gladys designs her paintings to provide a structure or framework for the story she’s about to tell. She deliberately positions her objects and crops her scenes in ways that make the most of shapes that invite you to enter into the painting. She also modifies shapes and places color accents to create great, arcing or linear movements that guide your eye around the painting. Says Gladys, “I look for rhythms that sweep us in.”
Gladys also arranges her paintings to lead your eye to the focal point, which is often a figure or floral arrangement. In Gladys's paintings, the focal point serves the same function as a musical melody, the overriding theme that rises above or stands out above the rhythms and harmonies. It’s usually the thing that most clearly expresses or summarizes what this piece of artwork or music is all about. Says Gladys, “I always want to give your eye a place to come to, where it can stay and linger. A focal point is essential. When a painting is hung on the wall, the focal point provides the main attraction that will draw a viewer to your painting.”
The drama and interest are enhanced by the lighting in Gladys’s paintings, which are often staged like the set for an operatic performance. Deep shadows are typically contrasted with dazzling passages of light and then further accentuated with rich highlights frosted onto the surface of the canvas.
Making It Sing
In addition to a beautiful flow leading to a focal point, a good painting also needs variety. Gladys explains, “Again, a painting should be like a piece of music that varies. If everything is the same rhythm and the same intensity, it gets boring. And besides, nature is not predictable, so your work should show that unpredictability.”
This principle of variety can be applied to virtually every element used in a painting. In Gladys’s work, it’s apparent in the paint handling. Not only does she use an array of brush strokes, she makes sure that some areas are somewhat thin compared to other juicier, heavier passages. Short, choppy strokes are offset by longer, lyrical strokes. “I have a tendency to paint very thin,” she adds, “so I have to consciously tell myself to break out of that and think about what I really want to achieve.”
“When I hear romantic music, I want to try to capture that feeling I get inside, like the feeling I get when I see beautiful light and color. That’s what motivates me to paint.”
Variety is also visible in Gladys’s color sensibilities. She works very hard to balance her natural affinity for brighter, higher intensity colors with toned-down grays and neutrals. “I grew up in Mexico, and I think the Latino culture I grew up in comes out in my bright colors,” she notes. “It’s okay for some colors to be forte, or loud, but then other areas have to be piano, or soft.” The contrast of the two makes them accentuate each other.
Sharing Her Inspiration
Whether she’s in her new studio on the top floor of her family’s new home or working outside on location, Gladys always makes sure music fills her environment. Opera and other classics are the source and soundtrack behind her creative process. And her collectors definitely respond to the romantic tenor of her work, which is why she has begun to note on the back of each canvas what piece of music she was listening to while she painted it. “Collectors love to listen to the same music and know what inspired me,” she says. “It allows them to more fully understand my process.” Let the music play on!
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The Benefits of Workshops
A very humble artist, Gladys says she is on a lifelong journey, always striving to improve her work or, as she puts it, to “do a better job of showing the amazing world I see.” Over the years, she has sought out instruction by studying privately with Dan Gerhartz and taking numerous additional workshops with other notable artists, including Quang Ho, Morgan Weistling, CW Mundy, George Strickland, Frank LaLumia, Daniel Greene, Scott Burdick, and Kevin Macpherson, just to name a few. Gladys was very careful to choose artists who work in a similar vein, and as a result, the same classical, academic approach and techniques have been consistently reinforced for her. Adds Gladys, “They have elevated my appreciation for great painting, not only for their own work but also for historical painters, including John Singer Sargent, Anders Zorn, Cecilia Beaux, and Nicolai Fechin. Because of this, I find that I’m continuously challenged to raise my own standards for my work.”
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