Transcend
By Michele Malinchak
A self-taught painter with a background in photography, artist Cindy Roesinger first picked up a paintbrush in 2008 and hasn’t been able to put it down since. Her affinity for wide, open spaces is reflected in her sweeping landscapes and skyscapes that provide a peaceful retreat for viewers.
Emphasizing movement, form and color, she eliminates extraneous detail, leaving the viewer with the origin of the image and the moment that inspired its creation. “I often align my work closely to what feels like musical composition to me,” she said. “When I approach the creation of a new work of art, I am seeking a visceral response to the lyrical quality unfolding within the work. Sometimes it’s quiet, sometimes there’s discord, sometimes there are layers much like a symphony.”
While she’s often called a minimalist painter, her style can vary depending on the subject. Her work often includes landscapes, farms and still life which are inspired by the colors and textures of her subjects.
She enjoys painting local architecture and landmarks such as the Bucks County Playhouse, the Tinicum Park Barn, Fonthill Castle and Moravian Pottery and Tile Works. In 2016, her rendition of the Bucks County Playhouse won first place in the American Art Awards, an international competition. She also received honorable mention for the work in Artists Magazine.
In 2021, her floral still life, “Cadence #34,” won the painting award at the New Hope Arts Spring Salon Exhibition. The still life, with its simplified shapes and bold application of color, appears on her website’s home page.
She began painting flowers by happenstance after breaking her ankle a few years back. People kept sending her floral arrangements and it was a perfect opportunity to paint them.
Working entirely in her studio, she relies on photos, sketches and her imagination. Sometimes she even dreams about colors and brushstrokes and is able to recall the ideas upon waking. Her paintings entitled, “The Hayfield,” “Once Upon a Cloud,” and “Cadence #36” were all inspired by color combinations that came to her in dreams.
Cindy’s medium of choice is oil, and her tools are palette or painting knives and large brushes. She uses a palette knife 90 percent of the time, especially when painting land. For clouds and sky, she tends to use brushes more.
She prefers painting on Jack Richeson Premium Gessoed Panels but also paints on canvas. She works mostly alla prima, in which paint is applied all at once instead of in layers. Cindy uses Gamsol as a medium to help move the paint and mixes all of her colors. She likes using disposable paper palettes and freezes whatever paint she doesn’t use. Finished pieces are then varnished.
Perhaps her greatest inspiration comes from her idyllic childhood. Cindy was born in Ellingham, CT in 1964, and when she was four years old, her family moved to a five-acre farm in Hopewell, NJ. “The wide-open spaces, barns, farm animals, gardens and crops that we lived with have greatly influenced my work as a painter,” she said. The white farmhouse she lived in appears in several of her paintings, and she has fond memories of climbing onto the barn roof, looking up at the sky and studying clouds for hours.
Cindy and her two sisters kept busy with chores—growing veggies, picking apples, and taking care of their pony, Dapples. Neighbors’ horses also frequented the property.
In the landscape, “Across the Meadow,” a mix of memory and imagination pays homage to childhood walks in the country. “We lived on a dirt road named Aunt Molly Road,” she said. “This painting brings me back to long walks up and down that road and exploring the woods and stream along it. Memories of catching frogs, trying to float an old bathtub down the stream, swinging from vines, petting cows and horses, and bringing home many stray kittens.”
She was strongly influenced by her parents, both of whom were highly intelligent, creative and motivated. “My parents were always making things. They were very hands-on.” Her father was an engineer and her mother a teacher and both had doctoral degrees. Her mother used to paint in oils and Cindy remembers liking the smell of the paints.
While she always enjoyed art, her first love was fabrics. “I learned to sew when I was very young and made doll clothes and furniture for my Barbie,” she said. As a teenager she continued to sew, and later on designed and made her own wedding dress. She also sewed her own curtains and upholstered furniture.
“Photography was my second love,” she said, “and I always carried a camera around with me.” Her parents gave Cindy her first camera when she was eight and later a really good one when she attended Hopewell High School.
After graduating, she studied at Ramapo College of New Jersey where she earned a BFA in photography in 1986. She began as a business major but switched to photography after taking a course in her freshman year with Professor David Freund who greatly influenced her.
“He taught me not so much the technical side of photography, but how to see what’s important, how to see the world visually through a rectangle—to narrow down that information and find that special moment that makes a photo interesting and intelligent.”
She went on to a lucrative career working in New York City at the International Center for Photography and Magnum Photos, leading to a career as a photo editor, researcher and photographer at Photo Researchers, Inc. and Gamma/Liaison Intl.
She worked at photo editing until 1995 when she began doing freelance work. At that time, she started hand tinting black and white photos and found she liked working with color.
In 2001, Cindy, her husband and two children moved from Union, NJ to Bucks County. Captivated by her surroundings and inspired by the early Pennsylvania Impressionists, she set out to give painting a try. “Wanting to follow my own artistic voice, I set about the task of teaching myself to paint,” she said.
Several years ago, she signed up for a two-day painting workshop. “I was at a pivotal time of change in my artwork where I was using a looser, more abstract approach to my painting.” Seeking affirmation and guidance, she attended the workshop the first day but never returned. She had found her voice and ran with it, never needing further direction.
Her favorite artists are Pennsylvania Impressionists Daniel Garber and William Lathrop, and while she honors the achievements of early artists, she also respects today’s art community.
“Everyone talks about early Bucks County artists, but there’s this powerhouse of talented artists living and working here right now that I feel have surpassed the early artists in many ways.”
Cindy’s work has been nationally and internationally acclaimed and has appeared in numerous books, magazines, electronic media, galleries and private collections
Her work is currently represented by Canal Frame-Crafts Gallery in Washington Crossing, PA and Maureen’s Gallery in Exton, PA.
She belongs to several art associations including New Hope Arts, Artsbridge, the New Hope Art League, the Arts and Cultural Council of Bucks County, Artists of Yardley and American Women Artists.
In the fall of 2021, she was invited to participate in the Traditional Artists Show in Doylestown. Giving a nod to fellow artists in the show, she said, “Camaraderie is placed above competition. There is an exchange of ideas as we lift each other up.”
Cindy takes on commissioned work and begins each project with several sketches. Rather than merely copying from a photograph, she looks to highlight something in the painting that may hold special meaning for the client. If it’s a farm, then perhaps a small outbuilding that was used for a particular purpose.
The Doylestown based artist lives with her husband, John, who has always been supportive of her art. Once he jokingly gave her a bar of soap which is prominently displayed in her studio. The wrapper reads: “Soap for True Artists: Smells Like Unemployment.”
Her work is currently represented by Canal Frame-Crafts Gallery at 1093 General Greene Rd, Washington Crossing, PA; 215-493-3660; www.canalframe.com. She also exhibits at Maureen’s Gallery in Exton, PA. To view more of her art, visit www.cindyroesingerfineart.com. Her work can also be seen on Facebook and Instagram.
Michele Malinchak is a freelance writer who has a degree in art and enjoys oil painting.