By Jackie Lee | Sun Fine Arts
Brigitte McReynolds remembers painting a piece of scrap wood with turquoise paint when she was only four years old, growing up in Germany. Later, she studied for two years at art school in Munich, followed by two years in Art Therapy school, then, at 26, she opened her own art gallery in Rosenheim.
Two years later, she met John McReynolds in her gallery. Many of us know him as a master chef, first at Café LaHaye for 11 years, then later at Stone Edge Farm. After a whirlwind courtship she moved to Sonoma to marry John and start a family.
With a sizable painting studio building at home and her showroom in the LaHaye Building on East Napa Street, Brigitte has the wide-open space and high ceilings required for her extra-large canvases; some are so large that they are painted resting on the floor.
Brigitte is highly respected in the art world. She has it all together, exuding energy and passion when speaking of her life and her art. Her paintings are not small and definitely not timid. They are grand statements, adding to the impact of the sometimes hidden soulful figures. Brigitte believes the figurative works go from a clear description of a body to an abstracted – even dissolving – figure.
“My figures arrive in various ways,” she said. “It can start with a clear vision when I know the figure’s shape, color, and motion. At other times I start with an emotion, a feeling, and a vague sense of a figure. Then I begin abstractly, holding back, not letting the figure take shape for as long as I can. When it finally happens and I allow the figure to appear, there is a strong sense of release, a feeling of satisfaction.”
She loves it when they become so abstracted they are barely even recognizable as figures. Music specifically chosen each day plays in the background, anything from Lizzo to Yo Yo Ma, a range as varied as the expressions on the canvas.
Freedom is of utmost importance. If she becomes attached to the work in progress, she lets go. Practicing non-attachment involves resting her mind away from the canvas until the excitement returns. She writes copious notes daily to aid in her artistic journey. Coupled with her love of continuous learning (including a penchant for new languages), the journey is inherent in magical moments appearing on the canvases.
“I am disciplined with work from Monday to Friday,” she said of her routine “Usually I know what my new paintings will feel like before I even paint any pictures in my mind.”
Brigitte believes her current works invoke a distinct energy that describes the world today. Speaking of a recent series on water resulting from a month in Venice as an artist-in-residence, Brigitte said, “I wanted to create a body of work that would reflect on what we are made of, to play with the fluidity of water and the solidity of land and bone. I wanted to create abstract paintings that could be interpreted as landscapes, but also picture what it feels like inside a body.”
Looking at it this way, she said, the new abstract paintings are as much self-portraits or human portraits as well as land and seascapes.
Brigitte glows when she mentions her husband. She said John is the most wonderful person, and so supportive of everything she does. A little-known fact is that she is a wonderful baker, which provides just the right touch of escapism to this exceptional artist playing with art magic every day.
Gallery location: LaHaye Art Center, 148 East Napa Street, Sonoma. Brigittemcreynolds.com
Jackie Lee is a writer and artist living in Sonoma. A supporter of the local visual arts scene in all its forms, her focus is to showcase individual events and artists as well as those represented by galleries. She can be reached at JackieLeeArt@comcast.net.
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