provided to The Santiva Chronicle
Rene Chastant, currently showing in a Sanibel Captiva Art League group show at the Sanibel Library, talks about her art.
“Color animates my spirit, and color is what excites me most in all of my varied painting subjects,” says Chastant. A “recovering lawyer,” she began painting in 2008 as a way of translating her inner voices. With previous jobs including a Humane Society investigator, a comedy writer, a street patcher and a magazine columnist, there were plenty of voices to hear.
Originally from New Orleans, La., Chastant has also lived in Colorado, Texas, Arizona, and Florida, as well as in Panama. The colors, textures, flora and fauna of these locations vary seasonally and hold a special appeal for her. Indeed, she states she can find inspiration in almost anything involving nature.
Working primarily in watercolor, most of Chastant’s pieces are characterized by strong, saturated hues. Chastant’s painting style varies from fairly representational depictions to bold, colorful renditions and abstracts, as well as collages and rice paper batiks. She has been a juried member of Fine Arts Guilds in Colorado and a signature member of the Southern Arizona Watercolor Guild.
Chastant’s art is exhibited primarily in SW Florida where she currently resides. An active member of the Sanibel Captiva Art League and past president of the Shell Point Painters Guild, she finds living near the shore provides her with near-excessive inspiration.
Chastant’s art generally involves organic subjects such as plants, animals and/or rocks, rather than figures or urban landscapes. She says she makes art because “it is the most potent means I have of communicating my love affair with color.”
The show at the library will continue through September.
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