Twists and Turns: The Artistic Journey of Betty Franks Krause
It can be easy to look at the path of an artist we admire and see a straight line. We are looking at their work through the lens of now. And now, it looks like they have always known who they were and how they work.
But living a life is never a straight line. And I’m struck by that with guest Betty Franks Krause (Episode 10). Her path had twists and turns. It wasn’t straight at all.
“I think art kind of found me,” says Franks Krause.
It all began with stamping.
“I got into...creating these little masterpieces that had to be lined up perfectly. If I didn't stamp it correctly, I had to redo it.”
Franks Krause was working full time, and she found herself spending all weekend on her stamping art.
“I think art kind of found me.” - Betty Franks Krause.
But then she came to her first major turn: mixed media.
“It was that madly in love feeling where I was head over heels in love,” she says of discovering mixed media on the internet. “And I said, ‘This is what I want to be doing,’” she says. “I want to be stamping and if it’s not perfect, it’s absolutely perfect.”
Mixed media cemented Franks Krause love of layering. It also began to teach her the acrylic and mark making skills she’d use a few turns down her path...but she didn't know it yet.
THE POWER OF CANADA
It was at a workshop in Victoria, Canada where her next big leap happened. Even though it wasn’t an abstract workshop, she had a life changing realization.
“At that workshop,” says Franks Krause, “I proclaimed myself to be an abstract painter from that day forward.”
She went home and immediately got to work.
“I got rid of like 20 boxes of different mixed media supplies that I had. I wanted to remove everything because I didn't want to be distracted. I really wanted to be an abstract artist.”
She began to streamline. She asked herself questions about how she enjoyed working. (Layers and mark making!) She got rid of the tools and materials that didn’t belong in her process. This in turn helped her begin to master those materials. She realized she didn’t need to be dependent on tubes of paint. She could mix her own. She gained confidence and momentum.
But finding herself in abstract painting was a bit surprising to the artist. She could still recall how when she first came into art, she wasn’t sold on the style.
“When I was younger, I never liked abstract art,” says Franks Krause. “I just didn't understand it. And I don't know if it's something that happens with age but as I got older, and you know, approaching my 50th birthday, I just suddenly loved abstraction.”
“…When I look at abstract art, and when I create abstract art, I'm creating emotions and feelings and you know, the excitement about that piece.”
-Betty Franks Krause
Franks Krause knows that it’s possible she just wasn’t looking at the right work when she was younger. There is a huge amount of variation in abstract art. It’s one of the things she likes about it. But at some point abstract art really began to click. And she discovered that abstract art focused on something she wanted to focus in on: emotion.
“There was something about not seeing an image in that art, but bringing to it, how I was feeling and how it was making me feel as opposed to what I was looking at. And so when I look at abstract art, and when I create abstract art, I'm creating emotions and feelings and you know, the excitement about that piece.”
FIELDS OF EMOTION
Today Franks Krause’s work focuses on her love of fields of flowers and flowers in general. She wants to share the emotion she feels about her subject.
“I'm not trying to paint a picture of those flowers for you to see. I don't want you to look at and say, “Yep, I see a flower there.” I want you to feel what does that feel like to be in a field of flowers [and] the sun shining with a beautiful blue sky,” she says. “Abstract art for me is all about those emotions.”
One of the main ways she shares that emotion through her bright use of colors.
“I want [my paintings] to show joy and happiness,” she says. To do this is, “I like to brighten my colors as much as possible.”
Franks Krause keeps her colors bright several ways.
First, she uses a large amount of white (gesso is her white of choice) in her color mixing for this very reason. Most paints come out of the tube fairly mid value to dark value. By adding white, she makes them feel brighter.
She also creates brighter paintings by working with only one color family at a time. For example, she will start with warm paintings and then let them dry completely before moving to cool colors.
STAYING FOCUSED
While Franks Krause deeply loves painting, it doesn’t mean that her road to today wasn’t paved with frustration.
“There were many times where I was doing what I shouldn't have been doing,” says Franks Krause, “which was getting on Instagram, getting on Facebook and comparing myself to others. And I had to remind myself that those folks that I was comparing myself to were further along in their journey.”
When this happened, the artist reminded herself that she needed to keep her head down, put on her blinders and keep working until she could create artwork on a consistent basis.
“That took years for me to get there. It wasn't something that happened overnight for sure,” says Franks Krause. “It just meant that I had to keep forcing myself to get in there and just focus on my own stuff and keep creating and keep trying.”
Listen to Betty Franks Krause’s episode 10 here!
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