Brian Emerson: Portland Art Gallery

Lisa Belisle: Hello, I'm Lisa Belisle and you are listening to or watching Radio Maine. Today I have with me in the studio artist Brian Emerson. Thanks for joining me today.

Brian Emerson: Good morning, Lisa.

Lisa Belisle: Brian, you're a New Englander by background.

Brian Emerson: That's correct. Yep.

Lisa Belisle: Not technically a Mainer, I guess.

Brian Emerson: Yeah, that's true. You're not born here.

Lisa Belisle: Well, I wasn't born here either, so I can't claim it even though I've lived here all my life. So where are you from?

Brian Emerson: Born in New Hampshire. The only one in my family actually born in New Hampshire. Everybody else is Massachusetts. So we grew up the form of years in North Shore, Massachusetts, Beverly, Danvers, Salem, and then moved up to Concord, New Hampshire, getting back into the woods again. I think that was my dad's doing, get back out of the city a little bit and up to the country, and that's where I did all my high school days. So that puts me at 93. I graduated, did a little traveling after, Seattle area, mid nineties you had to go to Seattle, but I got back, and that's when I moved to Maine.

Lisa Belisle: And I hear you moved to Maine because you were chasing somebody to Maine. Not in a weird way.

Brian Emerson: A little pre-story there.

Lisa Belisle: Yeah, exactly.

Brian Emerson: There was definitely a cute girl, Colleen Barter, that was living in Midcoast Maine. So I moved up to Rockland, Maine to be a little closer to Colleen, and worked at Hoboken Gardens in Camden and fell in love with Maine right away. It's a special place. There's a lot of coastline. There's no coastline quite like Maine.

Lisa Belisle: Yeah. New Hampshire has a little bit of coastline.

Brian Emerson: Yeah, it's great. I loved it. I was there all the time.

Lisa Belisle: Yeah, exactly. It's a little bit smaller. Massachusetts has a very different and distinct coastline.

Brian Emerson: Yeah, Cape Cod. We go there every summer too and love Cape Cod too.

Lisa Belisle: But it's gorgeous. Yeah, but Maine is Maine.

Brian Emerson: It's Maine, yeah. You have to experience it.

Lisa Belisle: Yes, that's true. And so you're here and somehow you've connected with, maybe unwittingly perhaps, this art family, the Barter family.

Brian Emerson: The Barter family.

Lisa Belisle: Yeah. Tell me about that.

Brian Emerson: It was definitely a very awesome, lucky move up here. I've always been interested in art and done art through my whole life. My brother is an artist and you always do what your brother does, older brothers. At least that's what I did. So I had art in my life and through high school entered competitions and won grants and stuff that I'd never used. But moving back to Maine and seeing, say, Philip Barter and Matt Barter, Philip making this career out of it, doing it for fun and for a life, I was like, definitely I want that. It was nice to work hand in hand with Phil and other members of the family. I remember probably right away, I think we might've lived with Phil and Priscilla for the first few months of our marriage. They have a big house that rambles on. We lived above the studio and he had a project building. I forget what it was, L.L.Bean or somebody commissioned a bunch of outdoor furniture pieces to be painted up and built. So me and Reuben Barter were building 'em, and Matt and dad were painting. So I got to really experience that. It was great.

Lisa Belisle: And of course Matt has an entire magical village of people and things that he has created, little physical structures. When he came in, he brought one with him.

Brian Emerson: Oh yeah, I'm sure his lobstermen or something like that.

Lisa Belisle: Yeah, exactly. But it's like this whole world that he's created.

Brian Emerson: His sketchbooks are just almost scary. You can just see into his mind of this madman artist that he pulls it off. His stuff is really awesome. He's out there doing his own thing and I love it.

Lisa Belisle: So when you are a painter obviously, but were you ever drawn to do something more like that?

Brian Emerson: With sculpture? That's a good question. I will say I am more of a two-D painter, but I did silversmithing for a bit when I moved to Maine. So I'd say later nineties we moved up with Phil and Priscilla. Priscilla and I, I was working at a jewelry store, Colleen, my wife and I both were, and they apprenticed me to do silversmithing. I actually went to Haystack school for it, and that was an awesome experience too. So there is that. I still have a jewelry bench set up at the Barter compound up north, and I'm actually wearing one of Phil's pieces from the eighties here, which he doesn't do much with the jewelry stuff, but I'm going out if I'm wearing that thing right there. Absolutely. It's a rare piece. So there's the jewelry, but as far as sculptural stuff goes, I have never done big installation pieces or anything like that.

Lisa Belisle: Yeah, not yet.

Brian Emerson: Not yet. This stuff with Phil, I've helped him on some stuff and install it at post offices or schools back in the day and that kind of thing. But yeah, not yet. Not yet.

Lisa Belisle: The beauty of art life is hopefully long.

Brian Emerson: Young artist here.

Lisa Belisle: Yeah, exactly. So why painting?

Brian Emerson: I guess I just like to adventure. I'm always out. We were out camping last weekend, we're up on Donnell Pond, near Schoodic Mountain, near MDI, Bar Harbor. And what are you supposed to do? You're looking at all this beauty. So I love to at the time draw it. I always have my art bag, so there's watercolors or gouache in there for plein air painting or whatever, and then I just bring it back to the canvas or panels or whatever. Back at the studio, there's a certain feeling when you're done with a painting, signing your name just feels good that you put your own interpretation on what you saw out there on canvas.

Lisa Belisle: So you brought with you today a couple of pieces and one of them is Phippsburg. Talk to me about that connection.

Brian Emerson: Yeah, I've got some friends that I grew up with in New Hampshire that have this camp right on, it's called Barnacles. It's right in this little cove and it's got that little golf course there. I'm just forgetting the cove's name there, but it has Burnt Coat Island is what you're looking at on their dock out there. So we'll meet them there often and just sit on the dock all day long. It's a great little cove there. You see boils of fish. It's a real deep cove, so you see all kinds of stuff out there. They'll take their paddleboards out. And so this is a painting I brought, I'm looking at over here, but that is the sunrise on Burnt Coat with a little boat, the neighbor's boat hanging out there.

Lisa Belisle: So when I look at this, I'm struck by the brilliance of the yellow, and I know it's a really inelegant way to describe art, but it's really striking as it comes out into the blues of the morning, but there's also a spareness about it that is interesting to me because I think a lot of people when they look at a scene they're like, oh, here's an entire cove full of all these things, and you're like, no, I'm just going to put this dock, this boat, this sunrise.

Brian Emerson: That's correct. You did a good job.

Lisa Belisle: I'm a pretty elementary art describer here at this point.

Brian Emerson: Took all the words right out of my mouth.

Lisa Belisle: It's very striking to me.

Brian Emerson: Thank you very much. So that is the style of art that I'm drawn to. Phil Barter had a bunch of books in his, he's an extensive art library and library in general, but all the artists he seems to have books on were that early, mid 20th century art that was putting away the pastel colors and really going the bold images and compositions and harsh colors and bold lines. I love that. Strip away work from reality, get the framework there, but then just strip it down like you were saying, and maybe turn up the volume a little bit on the colors and it's not realistic, but you get the image and hopefully the artist's perspective and how I want to see it.

Lisa Belisle: Well, and I think one of the reasons that I like it is it's quiet, but it's also dramatic. And I do get exactly what you're talking about, that you're really going to push it just a little bit so that you can have that impact of that moment.

Brian Emerson: Yeah, I agree. And this one, this drawing is actually from several, maybe even a decade ago, and I did a smaller painting, the same kind of size, a really long skinny one, and I came across this canvas. I'm like, this reminds me of the same. So I repainted it again, which I'll do sometimes, but change things up a little bit. And I brought the dock back a little bit on this painting in particular. I overworked the boat at first. It had too many things on it, and I came back the next day. I'm like, it was so simple the first time. I like to see that point of inspiration that you can trace it back to almost that first brushstroke. And I lost it on the boat, so I just smeared it out and just did it again so it could be in relation to the rest of the painting. It was too detailed. So I like that vagueness. It lets the viewer fill it in a little bit on their own too.

Lisa Belisle: So tell me about this other piece, which is actually quite different.

Brian Emerson: It is, I agree. It's from a camping trip.

Lisa Belisle: Camping trip.

Brian Emerson: It is, and again, this goes back a couple years, but that same camping trip I think I was just mentioning on Donnell Pond, which is just a gorgeous area, Maine. If you hike up over this, you're surrounded by Schoodic Mountain, Black Mountain. I don't want to give away all the details. It's a gem. I'm just kidding. But if you hike up over Schoodic, you're looking right at MDI, all the mountains on the ocean. It's so unique. How often you get mountains out in the middle of the ocean. But the neighbor actually caught these fish. There's obviously you have trout over here in the river coming in, and then it's deep enough that they have salmon there too. So he caught a landlocked salmon and a trout and brought 'em over and we just fried 'em up and did a painting as well.

Lisa Belisle: The reason I like this, and the reason I like art just generally is that you're telling this story and I'm looking at this and I'm thinking of my dad, and I'm thinking about the times that I used to go fishing with my dad. And that in the moment experience. And I wonder how often you are sharing a piece of art that you created, that you're coming at it from your perspective and somebody else comes along and says, well, let me tell you what I think this means.

Brian Emerson: I love that about art, music, all that creative stuff. I've listened to a song all my life. And then it's almost weird to hear the artist explain it. I'm like, that's not, you interpret it your way and you apply it to your life. So you just did with that painting and that is good. I agree with that, that you make it your own and you adopt it. And that's totally beautiful. And I think that's a great thing to do with art.

Lisa Belisle: And sometimes when I've talked to people who create art, they'll say, well, I purposefully am vague because I actually don't want to impose my story on this piece because I want other people to interpret it that way. But I kind of like it both ways. Well, unless I'm a little disappointed by the story, in which case I'm like, all right, well thanks for telling me. I feel bad now. But anyway, I usually don't take it that far, but I do like the fact that it can be both. It can be both what you are bringing and if there is a narrative to it. And then you're kind of being met by the person who's sharing that experience now with the art itself, which I think is kind of the magic of it.

Brian Emerson: Right? Yeah, I agree. I love it. Everybody can look at the same thing and see a different way. And some of my favorite artists, I love seeing how you can paint something kind of boring like a loaf of bread, but if you do it with your own unique style, I could be like, whoa, I love that composition, how the backlight comes in. Or you could paint a beautiful sunset and just a little bit drab or boring. I just pass by it. So it's all just perspective. I love that perspective and storytelling and narrative that a painting gives. But I do agree that I like to tell my story, but I do like to leave a little bit there that somebody could adopt it as their own or see it a little differently.

Lisa Belisle: Tell me about your favorite artists, and I'm assuming you've had probably lots of different favorite artists maybe at different times of your life.

Brian Emerson: Yeah, Maine has a lot of great artists. The ones that influenced me, again, going back to the books I read out of Phil's library, were like Dove. And he loves Marsden Hartley and John Marin and Georgia O'Keeffe and these people that were just bold colors and stuff like that. And that stuff's all locked away up here and hopefully influencing. And I was taught, Picasso said, rip off an artist if you need to, oh, I love the way he did that sky. You can adopt stuff and make it your own and melt it in and stuff like that. So those are a lot of the influences I had that time period.

Lisa Belisle: So as you've continued to evolve as an artist, you've had formal education and then you've continued to learn alongside the Barters and you've brought in other artists that you've studied. What types of things are you drawing upon for inspiration now?

Brian Emerson: Yeah, it's definitely Maine. You live on the coast of Maine and I've been venturing inland towards my home state of New Hampshire too, to the mountains more because I'm always on the coast. The family's all on the coast, mid-coast, southern coast where we live in South Portland and by MDI. And then we went to Campobello Island camping. That was pre-Covid, so a couple of years ago. And that whole rugged coast is just amazing, so inspirational. So if you were to go on my webpage or Instagram, I'm sure that you'll find that Maine, New England. Not that we don't travel, we did a lot of traveling before our kids. And now our daughter is 17, so we have more in our future, but for now, just traveling around New England, it's just so inspiring. And so I do like to work from that framework of landscapes and seascapes and some still lifes and stuff. And I live in South Portland, so Portland buildings and the harbor right there, you got the fishing wharf and stuff is loaded.

Lisa Belisle: So as you were describing your family to me before we started talking on the air, you were very complimentary of them. And also they're not artists from my understanding.

Brian Emerson: Well,

Lisa Belisle: I mean, I guess you said your brother.

Brian Emerson: Yeah, my brother. My brother is an active artist and he was always my inspiration from young, my formative years. We won an art contest on the radio or something like that. I was in kindergarten. That actually was pretty cool. My stuff got on TV and I was like, wow, that's awesome. And so I always follow your big brother, what he does. And so luckily he was into cool stuff like art, and so I kept up with it. High school, we had a uniquely great art department there with two awesome teachers that kept me motivated and then marrying into an art family. And that certainly doesn't hurt. Seeing how the inner workings, how you can make this thing actually your life, and that was so exciting. So that was a real moment. But my daughter Honey is 17 and she's actually an awesome artist and writer, so there's a lot of talent in the family.

Lisa Belisle: Alright, but were your parents artists?

Brian Emerson: No. You know what? My parents were not artists, but they were supportive. No matter what you chose, they had your back. So I did have that going for me, that they 110% go for it.

Lisa Belisle: And I think that that's mentioned about that a lot. Like my parents, for example, my dad's a doctor and I'm a doctor. Great. That worked out well. But then my mom and dad who regularly, hi mom and dad, regularly will watch this podcast, or video cast, and they reflect back with me and they'll say, oh, well this week you talked with, I dunno, Jane Damon and I learned this from that. And for either one of them, it really wasn't within their conceptualization of a life, but they're still like, okay, sure, go ahead, jump in. And that means so much to have somebody, even if they don't understand what you're doing, provide the space for you to explore it.

Brian Emerson: Yeah, you got to have your team for sure. I agree with that a hundred percent. And hopefully I can provide that for our daughter too.

Lisa Belisle: Now, as a 17 year old, she's probably thinking about life beyond where she's been so far.

Brian Emerson: Just starting to open those eyes.

Lisa Belisle: Just starting to open those eyes.

Brian Emerson: Yeah. Covid kind of shut a lot of stuff down, I think.

Lisa Belisle: Yeah, that's so true. But do you have a sense that, will she pursue art? Will she pursue writing?

Brian Emerson: I think writing's her little passion, buck the old art system a little bit, but she'll just pull out some watercolors. I'm like, so amazed. I'm jealous a little bit, but she was just up at UMF, the college in Farmington, for a writer's workshop and things like that. So her stuff's exciting.

Lisa Belisle: So what is that going to mean to you and Colleen? I have a child that just finished college and she was the last of the six children that are in our household. Between the two of us graduation, that final tuition payment was quite exciting to send off for sure. But it really does change your life in a pretty significant way. It changes the way that you interact with the kids. It changes the way you interact with the significant person in your life. And for me, it has just changed the way that I kind of exist creatively. So do you have a sense for what that might look like for you?

Brian Emerson: We'll get back together in five years. I'll have better.

Lisa Belisle: You're not there yet?

Brian Emerson: Yeah, we're not there yet. She's just going into senior year and we're super excited. She's just another adult in our house now. She's not like the little kid I have to keep bossing around. But it'll be interesting. I'm actually very excited, we both are, to see where this goes. Any parent, but we'll be there.

Lisa Belisle: I promise to support. You're right. So I guess that's true. Yeah, no, peeling back the years here, I'm thinking about that final year of high school and that actually was a big time. I wasn't necessarily thinking about the other side. I was at that time like, oh my gosh, this is the last one of all of the things that we are going to do. And so I think every moment of that year was, okay, let's take a picture. Okay. First last day of school. Okay. Of course my daughter wouldn't let me take a picture.

Brian Emerson: Yeah.

Lisa Belisle: Well, either way, I guess we're good. It doesn't really matter at this point anyway. We still love our daughters, whether you let us take a picture of them or not. So I think for me though, that last year of high school was sort of a leave-taking and it was a really significant sense that what I had, I had to encapsulate it somehow because it was never going to exist that way again.

Brian Emerson: Life moves on, right?

Lisa Belisle: Yeah. I don't think I'd ever had that large sense of how big this thing was that was now in my rear view mirror. And I don't want to scare you.

Brian Emerson: No, you did. A deer in headlights look over here. I'm so sorry.

Lisa Belisle: Yeah.

Brian Emerson: No, it's all exciting right now. She's got her schedule and she's pumped on her senior year coming up. So we're just going with that one for now. But there is, I'm sure, that whole empty nest syndrome or you have the house to yourself and stuff, but I think we're going to be all right. I'm excited for the next page to turn in our lives and her life.

Lisa Belisle: Well, I guess that's exactly what I was trying to get to. And I guess you can't answer that, so you'll have to come back next year.

Brian Emerson: Yeah, seriously. Every year we'll have a conversation.

Lisa Belisle: Yes, we could definitely do that. I'll hold you to it. I guess that's what I was really trying to get to because I've spoken with other people. I spoke with artist Laura Razek about stages of creativity and one's life related to where one is as a parent, for example, because so much of what we do when we usher humans along with us in the world, we call them raising our children, but I'm not really sure that that's entirely true. I think it's a—

Brian Emerson: Big kids ourselves. Exactly.

Lisa Belisle: We're kind of coexisting and we're trying to mostly stay out of trouble, I think, as we go. I do think there is a lot of creativity that goes into that co-generation of a life. And so then when you take a step back and you're like, okay, here I am, different phase. Where does my creativity go now and how does that manifest? And for me, it's been really interesting and surprising, but maybe for you, there have been other things that have shifted the way that creativity has flowed in your life.

Brian Emerson: Yeah, I hear what you're saying. I do think that as an artist or anything, that evolution and changing is good. Maybe you switch back to something, but trying new things for sure is a must. You look at artist Mondrian, his stuff, he's a Dutch painter, painted fields and windmills. But then by the end, he's painting these primary colors of black lines and Broadway Boogie Woogie and stuff. It's like, wow, how did that happen? And so I'm not going to change that much, I'm sure, maybe, but as an artist, I'm looking forward to keep pushing it and getting your own voice and stuff like that. I learned under the wing of Philip Barter, so I'm heavily influenced in a good way. I wrote down all these little secrets as he's talking, how to mix my ultramarine blues, my raw siennas, to make it cool, whatever it is. And I've got all those notes and I've got this information, but I'm just finding as an artist, your own voice out there. And I think I'm again excited about the future.

Lisa Belisle: Well, and I was mentioning Jane Damon before, and even in the short amount of time I've known her, her work has just changed dramatically. She's awesome in such interesting ways, the color and the way she does trees and the way she introduces rivers in her pieces. And you're absolutely right. You look at it and you're like, oh wow, I never would've thought of doing it that way. That's so interesting.

Brian Emerson: Yeah, good to have a bunch of artists out there doing it. I saw one of the birch trees and it's just so basic. It's a nice big painting, but just like, it's awesome, just perfect, don't do anything else to it. She left it alone at that right moment. That's the thing. Sometimes I'll get to just poking out of a painting, I'm like, oh, I should have stopped an hour ago. There's a point where it's like, you're not making it better. Maybe just put it away for a little bit, work on something else. But a lot of her stuff, maybe I would've poked that a little more, but I love that she left it alone. That's another thing hard to do for an artist sometimes. Some paintings take a long time and some paintings just take one setting, but just know when to stop. And I think she knows when to stop.

Lisa Belisle: Yeah, I have heard that more than once. That to know when something is finished is actually really tricky, which I guess is true. If you get to the end of a, I dunno, if you're writing a report, you're like, on page 10 at the end, all done, right? And that is all. But if you're doing art, it's like, well, maybe that over there could be a little bit more orange. Or I can add a brushstroke there.

Brian Emerson: And half the time, I'm just making it a little bit muddier. So again, I might do a couple paintings at the same time. Especially if it's watercolors or if I'm out doing stuff, I'll have 10 going. And I keep like, alright, let that dry and move another one. And then by the end, maybe I have two that I like, the rest hit the campfire. But I was definitely taught by the Barters, don't be afraid, go for it. What's the worst that can happen? You mess it up. Oh well, you just learn from that. Don't do that again. Or maybe this whole thing's messed up where this color touches that color. Look at that amazing new tertiary color you just made and you just learn from that one. But fear is definitely the enemy as far as art goes. So you're bound to make a bunch of messes, but then if you can get a few awesome ones out of it, that's learning.

Lisa Belisle: And would you say that a lot of artists are working on multiple pieces all at the same time?

Brian Emerson: The ones I know, actually, I think that is true. I know some that are amazing artists and I respect them all the way, but they're definitely focused on one painting and it might take months or maybe even a year to paint, I've heard. Whereas the people I tend to associate with as artists are a little bit more wild with a brush and are doing multiple paintings at one time. I remember reading about Paul Klee, he always had a bunch going. And if you look at from that year, I can almost see the same colors in those paintings. And it's probably because you had 'em all splayed out and was just walking around the room painting multiple paintings at the same time. So I think it's good. It works for me anyway.

Lisa Belisle: Well, I'm wondering, you've recently become affiliated with the Portland Art Gallery, so that's kind of a new experience for you.

Brian Emerson: Very excited.

Lisa Belisle: Very, yeah. So I'm interested to hear, where did you come to the place where you're like, I think this is a good idea now in my life?

Brian Emerson: Alright, that's a good question. I'm a bit of a bad self-promoter. I've shown at galleries for years. I've been, like to think, an artist all my life. It's kind of funny to say that, but definitely for 25 years I've been really focusing on painting and building my skills. And I've been with a gallery up in MDI for a number of years. I've shown at other galleries around Maine. I've done pop-ups or shows with Matt and Phil sometimes, but I've always been a little bit hesitant. I'm not sure why, it's personality, or do I feel like I'm ready to step out of the shadows? And again, I'll bring my daughter into this one again. We were walking around town the day I came to Portland Art Gallery and submitted to be with you guys. She had to read a poem on stage, and she was super nervous about it. And I'm like, all right, you know what? I'll go face my fears and I'll walk into Portland Art Gallery. I knew I was going to be doing this right here, and I'll do it if you do that. So anyway, I wanted to be with Portland Art Gallery. It's my favorite gallery in town. I think it's a great space. So I just needed that push to step it up. And I think I'm totally ready now, whereas maybe five years ago, maybe my art was ready, but I wasn't ready or something. So I feel like it's taken a long time to feel confident enough to present myself.

Lisa Belisle: So why?

Brian Emerson: Yeah, it's got to be a personality thing. But I am glad I did, mid forties, late forties. It's now or never. What are you going to do? Just always paint in your studio and tuck it away on your shelf? So I guess maybe with art and music and writing and anything creative, you're kind of putting yourself out there. So there's always going to be a critic. I don't know if I mind critics. I don't know if it's that as much as just making that step. I've seen it happen. I've seen other people do it. Why aren't I doing it? So it's a new time. I'm doing it.

Lisa Belisle: Well, I honestly ask this, not because I'm questioning the fact of it. I've written multiple novels. Have I published any of them? Absolutely not. They are sitting somewhere and they have not seen the light of day.

Brian Emerson: I'm going to interview you next time. Exactly.

Lisa Belisle: Exactly. So I know my own why, but I am kind of fascinated to hear the whys of others. Why now? Why not? What's the fear? Is it the light of day thing? You said it's not that you fear criticism.

Brian Emerson: Yeah, I don't think I mind getting, I like a critique. My wife's not afraid to critique. Just like Priscilla's not afraid to critique Phil. And so I think they could be very useful and I at least listen 30%. And sometimes I don't change something, so I'm not afraid of a critique. So I think it's maybe my own self-critique. I'm going to go with that. Do I have the body of work to really get this thing up off the ground? Do I have whatever it is? And I'm like, yeah, I do. What am I waiting for? It's not laziness because I'm always hard at work. So it's just something up here. Talking to friends my age too, in whatever profession they're in, I can see them all making that changeover. I'm in charge now. This is my new business or whatever. So I'm like, it's time to step it up as an artist.

Lisa Belisle: So maybe it's somehow a different level of commitment.

Brian Emerson: Yeah. Yeah. I hope I didn't come off cocky or something. No, it's a commitment thing. It's like believing in myself or something like that and committing to something. And I'm super excited to be in the Portland Art Gallery that's got some of the best artists from Maine and around that I can't believe I'll be sharing wall space with. So it's going to be a great year coming up.

Lisa Belisle: Well, pretty soon we won't need any other artists except for people who have an association with the Barter family.

Brian Emerson: We'll just keep over-expanding and expanding.

Lisa Belisle: And expanding and expanding. Yeah. So when you talk about trying to achieve a certain feeling in your composition, is there an overriding feeling that that is, or is every situation slightly different?

Brian Emerson: Just personality. I probably do inject my own personality into a scene, but I do try to let the scene talk, whatever it is, if it's a seascape or landscape or still life. But there's a lot of sketching going on just for composition. I love composition, so I learned that every good painting comes from a good sketch. So I definitely have a notebook full of sketches. There might be 10 sketches for a drawing. Like the one I did this week, finished yesterday, just my flowers out in front of my house, but it had part of my porch in there, my mailbox, and part way through I'm just like, no, I got to get rid of that. It was just distracting, just changed it a little bit. So I'm not afraid to change something mid-painting, of course, let it talk a little bit. But for the most part, I have the idea kind of nailed down on a sketch and maybe some little workups on some quick painting on a panel or something first or watercolor. But then it's off to the canvas or panel and try to make it, I like it when I can tell a painting who the artist is before I look at the signature. And I feel like a lot of good artists, you just know who it is. So I'd like to get to that point where people just know it's an Emerson by the feel of it or something like that.

Lisa Belisle: So that's the feeling you're talking about. It's just the sense that it is an Emerson, for example. I like that. That's really interesting. It's interesting to talk to you because I think you're absolutely right. It takes some sort of level of confidence to commit to something like joining a new gallery, for example. It takes that level of confidence. And there's always that push pull though, right? There's always that internal, okay, here I am, but wait, here I'm at the end of the dock. I don't want to jump off.

Brian Emerson: Do you have everything? All my ducks in a row. Yeah. And Portland Art Gallery has been awesome for the whole getting on board process there. They're great people, Kevin and Emma and all the gang there. So it's been a great couple, I guess a month now that I've been working with them.

Lisa Belisle: Well, and I think that that's really important that on the other side you have people who are like, okay, jump. We're good. We're here. We got you. That's great.

Brian Emerson: So true. Yeah. Thank you.

Lisa Belisle: And also I think it's comforting to talk to artists and have them say, of course, of course I feel some level of trepidation. Of course. This is going to require, I have to get to this place. And I think you bring up a great point that sometimes our children, you have a 17 year old, they're looking at you.

Brian Emerson: Looking at you.

Lisa Belisle: Exactly. And you're like, okay, I guess I better go now. Right?

Brian Emerson: Yeah. I still feel 17. Right. Oh yeah, I'm an adult. I got to do this.

Lisa Belisle: And actually, isn't that also true? When I was growing up, I was looking at my parents, I'm like, well, they know everything. At some point I'm going to get to that place that I'll know everything too. And I got to the place that I was like, oh, okay, when does this happen? When do I actually feel confident what's going on? But I think it's great, because I think artists in particular, they are physically, here is something in the world that represents something that's really important to me. And I think that's such a manifestation of whatever it is, confidence, some level of overcoming fear or something like that. I think it's important for us all to be reminded that that's what this is ultimately for many people.

Brian Emerson: Yeah, that's a good point. That it is a little piece of you out there that can be loved or picked on or whatever somebody wants to do. But yeah, I agree that putting a painting or any piece of art form out there is putting you out there and it's rewarding at the end of the day. And I wouldn't have it any other way.

Lisa Belisle: Well, that is great to hear. Well, it's really been a pleasure to talk with you today.

Brian Emerson: You too, Lisa.

Lisa Belisle: And I hope that we will get a chance to see you at some of the upcoming Portland Art Gallery openings.

Brian Emerson: I'll be there.

Lisa Belisle: Good. Very good. For those of you who have been watching or listening, I've been speaking with artist Brian Emerson, who creates wonderful works you're really going to enjoy. So I encourage you to go to the Portland Art Gallery and see them in person. Maybe come to one of the openings and you can meet not only Brian, but also all the other artists that he's mentioned, including his people who are related to him now by marriage, the Barters, Philip and Matt. And you're a delightful individual. So just meeting Brian Emerson in person will be, I think, highly worthwhile. So thank you for coming in and talking with me today.

Brian Emerson: Great. I love it, the studio is awesome. Your property is amazing. So I'm going to definitely wander around the island a little bit while I'm here.

Lisa Belisle: Okay. So if anybody sees him out there wandering around, don't be scared. He's not intimidating in any way whatsoever. I'm Lisa Belisle and you have been listening to or watching Radio Maine. Thank you for joining us and thank you, Brian.

Brian Emerson: Yes, you bet.