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Anna Mages: Could you elaborate on the process behind your work? Do you begin with sketches then experiment with color? Or do you find yourself working more intuitively?

Nancy Cheairs: I don’t have one method for constructing a painting. There are times when I work from my large sketchbook filled with small drawings of visual vocabulary. The drawings are on transparent paper and are taped into my sketchbook. I might arrange some pieces in a composition or just look at them to activate my imagination. There are times when I work intuitively with watercolor or colored pencil to generate ideas. Sometimes I work on my iPad using Sketchbook Pro. I usually have a theme that I am working with [which] suggests the palette [since] color is the driving force for the emotional impact of my painting.

AM: What relationship does your practice have to photography? Do you often work from life, photos, etc.?

NC: I don’t work from photography. My imagery originates from different sources: the recollection of a dream, a poem, a memory, an emotional experience, a glimpse of something in the landscape, my imagination, an artwork or piece of architecture. I do have a separate sketchbook practice where I work from observation. Drawing from life slows the mind and sharpens focus. I usually draw from life first thing in the morning or at night before bed. Observational drawing is a meditation practice.

AM: While some paintings might explore the fracturing of space, I find that your work moves towards a sense of “wholeness.” It is as if there is a reconstruction or building back up of space, shape, and composition. Do you find yourself working towards a sense of wholeness or breaking down the picture plane?

NC: I work towards a sense of wholeness when I paint. Sometimes I feel like I am working on a jigsaw puzzle because I construct images from fragments of remembered experience, including pieces from childhood, literature, art history, and architecture. I draw from the direct expression that’s tied to folk art, the symbols used in Regionalism and my personal experiences. The interweaving of abstraction with realism is fundamental to my work because this abstracted reality allows me to search for visual rather than narrative solutions, ultimately freeing me to get lost in the act of painting. Figuring out how to juxtapose and combine different ideas, finding their connective thread, and constructing them into a believable place is both a challenge and reward in my painting process. My intention is to discover connections between imagination, spirit, history and concrete reality, creating a vision of a life that is alive with mystery.

AM: Could you elaborate on the role of geometry to your painting practice? Do you have specific artists or pieces that have become especially influential to your practice and thinking?

NC: Piet Mondrian, Stuart Davis, Hilma Af Klint, Charles Sheeler and Luis Barragan are a few of the artists that come to mind. The role of geometry is my innate inclination when I start drawing or painting. Order, simplified form, balance, line, angles, planes and points are the building blocks of my work and my instinctive way of approaching a composition.

AM: I have noticed that many intricacies in your paintings are within the branches of the trees. Is this a specific motif or focus for you? How does the relationship between the figure and the ground contribute to the development of your paintings? Do you find yourself to focus first on form or color? Or do the two emerge simultaneously?

NC: The tree is a recurring image that presents itself according to the spirit of what I am trying to convey. The figure and the ground emerge simultaneously because one tells me what to do with the other - it’s a push and pull dialogue. Color and ideas usually capture my attention before form.

Anna Mages is a Summer / Fall 2025 Intern for Tri-Star Arts, currently based in the Chattanooga area.

* images courtesy of the artist