Crave: Where did you grow up?
Sandy Lane: I was born in Portland, Oregon and at the age of 9, moved to
California. After a four year enlistment in the Air Force, I moved
to and have been living in California ever since.
Crave: Are there many artists in your family?
Sandy Lane: There are indeed many artists in m family! My 1st cousin, Jon Colburn is well know in the Pacific North West, especially Portland, Oregon as an artist in "mixed media". He is a graudate of Portland Musem of Art.
His Sister, Elizabeth, was a accomplished portrait artist in oils. My brother Jeffrey, is a cartoonist and character artist.
My father was a journeyman artist in wood sculptures.
Crave: How old were you when you first got interested in art?
Sandy Lane: I first became interested in art in Junior High School as an escape from boring math and history classes and jocks!
Crave: What made you decide to turn art into a career?
Sandy Lane: While in the Air Force I was responsible for drawing and giving "briefings" of aircraft operations, missions, maintinance and safety. Also during this time, I was able to create logos and crests for various squadrons and this gave me valuable experience as an commercial illustrator so when I got back to California as a civilian, I went to work at in the newspaper business as an illustrator and editorial cartoonist. It was during this time that I started to get interested in oil painting.
Crave: Did you apprentice for someone else or are you self taught?
Sandy Lane: For the most part, I was self taught, especially in the newspaper field for deadlines and extreme pressure didn't give me much time to pursure a more normal life as an art student! I did take a few night courses at the local Junior College in architectual drawing but had to drop out because of the work load at the newspaper.
Crave: how did you feel the first time you ever put brush to canvas?
Sandy Lane: It was really exciting to start oil painting for the first time. It was totally a new experience and with no one around to tell me what to do and not to do, everything that worked (on the canvas) was really satisfying! Everything that didn't work was a lesson well learned! As time went on, I was fortunate to meet some really expereinced artists who helped me in the technical end and encouraged me to have my own style.
Crave: Who are your major influences?
Sandy Lane: My major influences in art are my cousin, Jon Colburn, Maxfield Parrish and the 1800's artist, Thomas Moran.
Crave: Do you have any particular favorite style?
Sandy Lane: I really don't have a favorite style of painting but I do lean towards the smooth brush, blended color techique and working with thin layers of transparent glazes over underpaintings.
Crave: What inspires you to paint, and how do you keep yourself motivated?
Sandy Lane: What inspires me to paint is all the amazing and wonderful things being discovered everyday in the field of Astromoy, i.e: Nebula, planets and other fantastic things out there in the universe. I think that is what keeps me motivated to paint as much as possible. I always try to have at least three oil paintings going on at the same time and it so happens that just as I am finishing one painting, I see or imagine another galactic image and I have to start on that instantly, so I'm always painting!
Crave: What would you consider to be the best piece you have ever done?
Sandy Lane: As per your last question, I thnk my favorite piece ( so far ) is the painting called, "Colleenist Nebula''.
