Bloomfield High School student artist adds modernity to reality

BLOOMFIELD — Tami Chapman dips her paintbrush into a blob of yellow acrylic paint, lifts it and smoothly runs the brush over her red canvas, adding a small detail to what appears to be a flower. Each petal displays a different design. One is patterned like a leopard, another like a zebra.

Chapman is a senior at Bloomfield High School. She said she wanted to mix multiple designs into one piece. The petals of the flower are each unique, but the flower design holds them together.

Chapman said she always seemed to have a gift with art and started drawing when she was really young. In high school, she skipped to art classes, moving from the beginners level art class Art 1 to Art 4. Although she uses multiple mediums to create art, Chapman said she feels like she is strongest at painting.

She takes out a series of her paintings. Two self portraits are painted with black and white tones. Another painting is of her friend getting ready for a play.

Chapman said she is also involved in drama at BHS. Before one of the plays, her friend was sitting in the make-up room, her hair up in a bun. The light was bouncing around at unique angles and Chapman said she immediately was inspired. She snapped a photo and later painted the picture.

Chapman said she doesn't paint realism, although she often draws her inspiration from the world around her. She said she often adds a "splash of different things."

"I take real things and make them more modern," Chapman said.

In

addition to things she sees around her, Chapman said she also draws inspiration from music.

"I listen to everything," Chapman said. "From crazy rock to classical piano."

Chapman said she doesn't start with a plan when she begins a painting.

"I paint what I feel," she said.

After she graduates this spring, Chapman said she plans on enrolling at San Juan College and plans to continue taking art classes.