Her Paintings Trip the Light Fantastic

JOHN SHIVERS

When northeast Georgia artist Ganine (pronounced Janine) Derleth is fully in the moment with her work, it’s almost as if she’s inside that piece, painting from the perspective of one who can see the big picture. Pun intended. You might say she’s dancing with her life-long friend, the creative Muse that guides her. After all, given that dance in some form has been a large part of her even larger life, it’s easy to imagine the movements engrained within a serious dancer revealing themselves, as she wields brush to canvas.

But for all the seriousness of her craft, Ganine is possessed with a warm and gracious personality that comes across in both conversation and in her finished works. She’s a member of Oil Painters of America and has created so many pieces that literally speak to their audience. Check out her “Sparkling Sunlight,” where you actually expect your hand to come back wet when you touch the water.

“A Peaceful Place by the Lake” evokes many comfortable, restful emotions, while you can sense and easily visualize the joy that’s about to happen in “The Wedding Garden.” And “Henry’s Hideaway” literally makes the viewer crave to call it home. Her paintings connect and resonate for one very good reason.

In one word, it’s “technique.”

Or, perhaps, it’s equally as much passion; the passion she needed to fuel and inspire her efforts to create enough finished pieces to fill an entire one-person show. Or the passion it takes to overcome heartbreak and adversity, and turn it into phenomenal artwork.

“Painting is constant decision making,” she points out, and goes on to explain that it’s much the same in dancing. “Everything in painting is an arrangement of relationships.” She says it’s an analysis of values, where light and dark, abstract and traditional components, soft and hard elements, and transitions merge, so that the finished piece is born.

How she approaches those initial brush strokes that literally form the foundation for the finished work is critical. “I usually begin by designing my composi- continued to 12 tion, deciding what I am most drawn to and what I love about it.” From there, she says, it’s just a matter of staying present in the moment, as she assesses color depth and placement, mixing colors to achieve just the hue she needs for the sunset over the placid lake waters in “Indian Cove Sunset,” for example. It’s through the intuitive process developed and honed to a fine edge and dedicated discipline that hydrangea blooms with gently graduated hues and roses receive their own unique colorful identities in “A Gorgeous Bouquet of Flowers.”

“I admire excellence in all art forms, and strive for it in my own creative expressions,” Ganine explains. “I love the process of learning and being present in the moment.” She goes on to equate her creative process as a spiritual journey. “I’m constantly refining what I’m passionate about.” She credits two legendary masters within Oil Painters of America, whose critiques and encouragement have literally made the difference.

“Oil painting engages my brain and my heart,” she says, when speaking about her choice of medium. “My paintings are a reflection of my life and what brings me joy.” And she points to the skill, focus, and knowledge required to work in oil.

While painting has been a hobby since she received a set of messy pastels for her ninth birthday, it’s also been a serious pastime for much of her life. But, for more than thirty years, it was pursuit of the dance that claimed first priority in the life of this sixty-something renaissance woman, who has appeared on Broadway and in other national performing venues. Whether it was mastering ballet, becoming one with the art of movement, or dancing tap that teaches musical rhythm and sound, Ganine has danced them all. Jazz bumps up the challenge, she says, while Latin dances require sensitivity and responsiveness.

While her dancing today is primarily that of a passionate, talented instructor who stresses not just the art of the dance, but the passion that should naturally accompany it, Ganine is still creating. She and husband Theo, who have been married forty years, are active, handson instructors where they live on Lake Hartwell. But when she stopped performing, something was missing. That’s when hobby became her primary creative outlet.

“Now painting is my passion and my profession,” Ganine says, and you sense the excitement in her voice. It’s easy to understand why her paintings exhibit such depth of an investment of self. Her work isn’t an extension of the artist; rather, Ganine is an extension of the work that juices her; work that not only allows, but demands, that she express herself to the max.

This multi-talented artist realizes that just like dance, the life she captures via brush and canvas are an embodiment of the technical skills that a creative individual uses to express themselves. This is when the unknown happens, which is why this artist, who moved to Hartwell, Georgia some seven years ago, continues to challenge herself. She’s still putting herself out there, daring herself to paint more, be brave enough to submit her work for both juried and informal critique, to connect with other artists, and through it all, to improve her skills.

“And that’s exactly what’s happening,” she proclaims with modest pride.

This daughter, wife, and mother has found her niche, that place where life is full and satisfying, which in turn allows her to know what she loves, totally in the moment with herself. But she still continues to learn, to refine, and to enhance. Recently she attended the Olmsted Plein Air Invitational and the Portrait Society of America “Face-off,” which afforded opportunity to rub shoulders with and soak up technique from more learned artists. “If you have a great teacher, you can learn,” she insists. And she takes comfort in the reality that she’s still a work in progress. It leaves room to grow.

The more you learn about this phenomenal artist, the more you want to know. Her website is https://ggiorgione.com, includes an extensive portfolio, as well as a way to contact her via email.