The Artist’s Studio uses a muted and minimal color palette to display a closer look at what a painter sees on a daily basis. The works start out from photographs of man-made subjects in my daily life with inorganic lines and strong sources of light. I enjoy simplifying and exaggerating various aspects in the work such as the colors, the subject, and the lighting. My lighting references Edward Hopper’s work as well as the idea of how isolation is depicted and can be read as either comforting or lonely. I also play with contrasting impasto and smoother blends throughout the paintings while focusing heavily on brushstrokes. Using only the alla prima method brings up the idea of time and its constant, unrelenting nature. This relentlessness therefore continues the conversation towards the everyday life and the mundane. Showing my daily struggle of mental health and disabilities, not as some romanticized idea but of an endless fight with emptiness in the ordinary. While emptiness is often seen as something “less than” or lonely, for many who cope with mental illnesses, including myself, it can be seen as a haven. This level of self-awareness that is usually seen as a positive trait, can then be seen as a prison when battling with mental health.

These works focus on the comfort I find when I am alone with my work and even if it is only for one single moment, accepting peace that can come with the mundane. These notions have been with me all my life, following my mental health journey, and providing comfort. Now, during a global pandemic, more people’s thoughts and hearts have turned toward mental health and how it seeps into the quiet moments of our daily lives. This is a time where more people are giving attention to their own mental health and this work shows the intimate view of how I, an artist, manage it.

Alex Renbarger is an oil painter who focuses on interior and exterior spaces to discuss the mundane and mental health. She is about to graduate from Texas State University in San Marcos TX with her BFA in studio art and a minor in communication studies. By then, she will have shown her work in the Slice of Home Exhibition online, at the Exit Exhibition, and the Hallway exhibition in San Marcos, TX. She is also currently interning with Spellerberg Projects and ICOSA.