Today we’d like to introduce you to Linda Povey.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
I am an artist working in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and Wellfleet, Massachusetts. After 30 years working as a creative executive in marketing and advertising. I began painting in 2012 and eventually transitioned to a career as an artist.
I first visited the most remote part of Cape Cod in 1986, when I was 24 years old, and it had a profound impact on me. I was captivated by the wild and pristine beauty. I have a very close friend who is an artist living on Cape Cod and when I visited, we would spend the entire week happily painting. She really encouraged me. Although I recognized that I was a creative person, naturally drawn to gardening, home décor and marketing and branding as a profession, I had very little confidence in my ability to be a “fine artist.”
But over time, from a little table in my family room to a small studio in the attic to my current professional studio in Aston Mills Arts, an artist community outside of Philadelphia, my skill and confidence grew. I have been very fortunate to study with some exceptional teachers, including Lisa Pressman, Randall Graham, Cynthia Packard, Nick Wilton and Rebecca Crowell at the Ballinglen Arts Foundation in Ballycastle, Ireland. As my artist friend, Sharon Hayes, would say, “We are getting our career girl MFA!”
My lifelong love affair with Cape Cod never ended, and after many years of vacationing here, my family and I ended up living in Wellfleet, Massachusetts every summer since 2019. With this move, my work returned to the beautiful spirituality of the landscape. Even during the winter months working from my studio at Aston Mills Arts in Philadelphia, I am drawn to capture this healing and breathtaking place.
After exhibiting in many shows in both Philadelphia and Cape Cod, I took a chance and introduced myself to The Frying Pan Gallery, a delightful space in Wellfleet Harbor that was once an oyster shack. When the owner, Sarah Swain, agreed to hang nine of my paintings in the gallery, I was ecstatic! The Frying Pan Gallery relationship has been wonderful, working with great people and exposing my work to art buyers who share the same sensibility for this extraordinary place.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
I think like many people, I was a late bloomer. Not only did I not become an artist until later in life, I never had children until I adopted my beautiful daughter at 51 years of age. I also remarried at 56 and was blessed to become the Bonus Mom to three incredible young people. I am now a mother of four! I think David Bowie said it best, “Aging is an extraordinary process where you become the person you always should have been.”
At 64, I do believe I am the person I should have always been. I think it’s amazing that women today get to have a third act in ways they didn’t previously. After having a career or family, it’s a gift to be able to reinvent yourself to do something you absolutely love to do. For me, that’s been becoming an artist and a mother.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I continue to be inspired by truly wild landscapes and the unique emotions and memories they evoke. Sweden, where I lived in my twenties and have visited many times since, has a similar untamed beauty as Cape Cod. With the ever-changing weather, the sea and sky depict a sense of being fleeting and timeless at the same time.
My work seeks to create an emotional connection inspired by the landscape, fused with my own perspectives about impermanence. As I’ve progressed and my confidence has grown, my landscapes have gotten larger and I am most proud of this larger work because it represents the growth and development of my own artistic voice.
Are there any apps, books, podcasts, blogs or other resources you think our readers should check out?
I have found that continuing to take classes with accomplished artists, either online or offline, has given me such a broadened perspective and continues to do so. Everything from tactical painting applications to how different teachers think about their work enriches my own process.
Most recently, I took a weeklong class with Carol Pelletier at the Truro Center for the Arts. Her class, among other things, focused on how to eliminate solvents from the studio. As I get older, I am interested in creating safer studio practices and now I have that knowledge.
Prior to that, I took an online class with Richard K. Blades, a talented Cornwall painter of sky, sea and land in the English Romantic tradition. These classes help keep my own practice fresh, as I try to approach each opportunity with a Beginners Mind.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.lindapovey.com
- Instagram: @linda_povey
