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Barbara Lewis
By Diana Cercone
Growing up in Swarthmore, Barbara Lewis loved doing paint-by-number kits and the “stay-within-the-line” coloring books. This she tells me in her gracious home in Doylestown, which she shares with her husband, retired dentist David Lewis, and their five-year-old Ragdoli cat Remi (short for Rembrandt). At the time, she says, both the kits and coloring books were frowned upon as “not being creative.” With a dismissive tone in her voice of that negative view, she says many of the kits replicated famous artwork. Even at a young age, she says, she recognized the value in the kits and coloring books. If you paid attention, she says, they taught you a lot about basic painting techniques. And Barbara paid attention.
It was the same mind-set towards art studies in college years later. Attending Trinity College, she says, she majored in history because, like most colleges then, it didn’t offer a Bachelor of Arts in studio art. But the fire to become a painter was lit in childhood with those kits and coloring books. Determined to pursue her knowledge of painting, she elected to take what art studio classes were offered.
Even after graduation, marriage, running her husband’s dental practice and raising three young daughters, she didn’t stop learning the principles of painting by doing what she always did: Study and copy from the masters. Her studio bookcase brims with art books of her favorite artists such as Philip de László, John Singer Sargent, Winslow Homer and Andrew Wyeth. Cabinets and drawers, both in her studio and across the hall in another room, overflow with her sketches. Some devoted to studies in color, others on perspective. Still others focus on reducing everything to shapes and shadows, in particular, landscapes and portraits.
Throughout she held fast to her belief in the value of classical training in drawing and painting. So when their youngest daughter started kindergarten, Barbara embarked on perfecting her painting skills, beginning by studying with Frank Acuri.
He would set up still lifes in the classical chiaroscuro style for her, she says. “By controlling the light and composition, I learned how to bring light out of the shadows, creating focus and atmosphere.” After Acuri, she went on to train at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts and at Studio Incamminati in Philadelphia which was established by Bucks County’s world-renowned portrait artist Nelson Shanks. Additionally she studied portrait art with Michael Shane Neal and Daniel Greene.
Today, working mainly in oil, Barbara’s paintings have been exhibited at the Michener Art Museum, the Pennsylvania State Museum, the Woodmere Art Museum, Rowan University of New Jersey, the National Arts Club, and the Salmagundi Club of New York as well as at area art galleries. Her paintings hang in private homes and in public buildings and corporations, including the Michener Art Museum, the Mercer Museum, and the Bucks County Judicial Center. She is a member of the Oil Painters of America, the Portrait Society of America, the Philadelphia Sketch Club and a fellow of the American Artists Professional League.
In 2012 she was commissioned by the Bucks County Bar Association to paint portraits of Bucks County judges to hang in the new Bucks County Judicial Center. To date, she has completed 15 portraits and, at the time of this interview, was working on her 16th in her studio. Each is about 36” by 34” before framing. She has also been commissioned by the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania for a number of larger portraits as well as commissioned by Grand View Hospital for portraits of their doctors.
Ten of her portraits of Bucks County retired judges were exhibited in 2015 at the Michener Art Museum. The exhibit, “A Judicial Legacy: Portraits from the Bucks County Court Collection” featured 45 paintings showcasing 250 years of historical and artistic tradition in Bucks County.
The first judicial portrait Barbara painted was that of retired Bucks County Common Pleas Court Hon. Harriet Mims. She was the first elected female judge on the Court. Another Common Pleas judge, the Hon. Al Cepparulo, was troubled that only a photograph of her was hanging among the oil portraits of her male counterpart judges. Wanting to correct this, he contacted the Doylestown Art League in hope of finding a portrait artist. As a member of the League at the time, Barbara jumped at the chance, submitting examples of her portraits and winning the commission.
“That early commission,” she says, “helped me get future [Court] portrait commissions, including that of Hon. Cepparulo.”
For her portraits, Barbara takes the time to get to know her subjects by meeting with them, their spouses or partners when possible and/or, if commissioned by a corporation or committee, by their representatives. Usually this “getting-to-know-period” transpires over multiple sittings, including having the subject sitting and standing in different poses and against different backgrounds. Even changing the color of a tie or scarf is not ruled out.
Barbara also gathers photographs of the subject as well as taking her own which easily number 200. “Everything about painting I believe doing from life,” she says. “Photos don’t cut it.” However taking your own photographs, she says, helps you setup up your own lighting. Capturing perspective, shadows and nuances in expression. “So that when you do paint from photographs, you do it better.”
Back in her studio, she’ll cull the lot down to those she thinks best captures the subject, including looking the most like the person and is balanced. These she then brings to the final meeting. It is there that she, the subject and/or those commissioning the work, choose the photograph she will use for the painting.
Controlling the light is important when painting, she says. So much so, she doesn’t let her north-facing studio’s light be completely in control. Even though it’s the most consistent, she says, showing colors well and in their natural hues. Still, in addition to the natural light, she uses a Great Video Maker lamp, allowing her to control both the intensity and color temperature from warm to cool.
Before starting a painting, Barbara preps the canvas with a mid-tone, sort of a blue/gray. She also stretches her own canvases. This way, she says, she can paint any size.
Faces aren’t flat, but a combination of angles and shadows, she says. With a touch of genial chiding, she says, “you’d know this if you did paint-by-number kits.” To achieve the angles and shadows, Barbara uses many flesh tones to not only capture the subject’s skin tone but the shape of his or her head, features and expressions. And each color affects each other, she says. For example in the portrait of Dr. Jane Ferry, Barbara used many colors for the children, “including Burnt Sienna, reds of different shading running from cool to warm, blues and, perhaps, more purple hues in the shadow areas.” In all flesh tones, she says, “I also use more modern colors like the Phthalo blues and greens, Indian Yellow and Permanent Rose which makes beautiful, purer hues when mixed with a little Titanium White and each other.”
That doesn’t mean she’s abandoned the traditional cadmium reds, oranges, and yellows, but is careful not to let them become too dulled when mixed with other shades or white. Rather than stick to one color theory, she says, she’s developed one of her own over the years to suit her needs.
Capturing the likeness of the subject on canvas isn’t Barbara’s only aim. She also shows the subject’s personality in adding something personal in the portrait, such as the book on orthopedic surgery and a football on the desk in the portrait of Dr. Thomas Hipp, an orthopedic surgeon at Grand View Hospital.
For patent attorney Alan Nadel’s portrait, Barbara added two of his more famous patents: the Super Soaker toy water gun and the “sweet spot” Prince tennis racket. In her mother’s portrait which hangs in Barbara’s living room, she painted her holding knitting needles because she loved knitting baby blankets for her grandchildren and numerous grandchildren.
However, not all of her commissioned subjects were willing to sit for their portraits. Case in point was Dr. Jane Ferry, an emergency physician at Grand View Hospital. In her interviews with Dr. Ferry, Barbara learned that every year she traveled to a health clinic for children in Kenya. A photograph of Ferry with some of the children held a place of honor in the doctor’s office. Barbara painted Ferry’s portrait with the children from the photo, adding a stethoscope around the doctor’s neck. Ferry was delighted with her portrait.
Barbara’s home also serves as her private art gallery. Intimate portraits of her family hang in the living room, while the spacious downstairs showcase her landscapes, still lifes and figurative art. Water figures in many of her landscapes. Look closely and you can hear the rushing of the water from the waterfalls and brooks. Her still lifes, done in the chiaroscuro style, are lush paintings of flowers, which she grew in her garden.
Usually every two years, Barbara holds a Holiday Open House in December. Hoping, this is the year. If so, it will most likely be on Sat. Dec. 5. For updates and more information about it, check her website www.barbaralewisfineart.com.
Likewise for commissions, use the contact page on her website or call 215-340-0842.