Denise Partridge with her husband Howard.
Interview with Catherine D Anspon, Executive Director, Visual Arts/Social of Paper City Magazine
Gauguin had a day job. So does Denise
Partridge. One of Houston’s leading women in
the broadcast field, the celebrated SUNNY
Radio sales superstar is an accomplished artist
who has been picking up the brush since she
first discovered painting as a teenager growing
up on the East Coast. Here PaperCity’s Fine
Arts Editor (and longtime pal of Miz Patridge),
Catherine D. Anspon, does a Q-and-A with this
21st century Impressionist.
What are your thoughts about Vincent Van Gogh?
DP: “His work has inspired me my whole life. I started painting at age 13. Then in my early
30s, I visited the Van Gogh Museum in Holland, and I got my battery recharged … Just like
Vincent, I want every stroke with my palette knife to be felt and seen.”
Nature often inspires your canvases. What are your feelings about nature?
DP: “I love flowers … they seem to be fluid and free out in the open, and that is how I think of
my paintings.”
Sometimes it seem like you are having a love affair with oil paint!”
DP: “I started in acrylic, then went to oils 20 years ago … and haven’t stopped. Although they
eat up a budget for painting, they are delicious to work with. I feel like I am painting with ‘ice
cream.’ I love to apply the oil as thickly as possible, to slather it on so that the pigment appeals to
your senses. However, oil painting requires patience, and months to dry. Canvases for the March
show at Laura U will have been painted no later January, since they require two months to ‘dry’
before they can be exhibited, (otherwise the oil is still wet). Recently, I’ve begun adding a bit of
acrylic to my oils, to speed up the drying process a bit.”
When did you first discover painting?
DP: “I was 13, and had the most inspiring art teacher, who created a desire in me to go to
school and become an art teacher — which I did and got certified to teach K through 12th grade.
Besides my teaching credentials, I have my BFA from Montclair State College in New Jersey.
Looking back, I realize I’ve been painting for over 30 years, actually nearly 40 now!”
How has your career evolved?
DP: “I had a number of shows in the New York-New Jersey area when I graduated from
college, but ever since I moved to Houston in the early 1980s, I’ve been making my living in
broadcast. I’m married and have a teenage son, but painting has remained a passion. I’ve
continued to paint for family and friends, and love to spend the weekends in my studio.
Throughout the years, I’ve sold a number of canvases privately, so I decided the time was now to
have a show, and present an entire body of work for collectors — I’m really excited about my
upcoming exhibition at Laura U in March 2008, since it’s my official Houston debut!”
Describe the tactile experience of a Denise Partridge canvas?
DP: “My canvases are like frosting.’Delicious’ would be a good word … appealing to the taste
buds … I want the viewer to feel like they can lick them, taste them, and a collector to have a
visceral, emotional encounter with the painting.”
What’s your process? How do you begin?
“it’s very intuitive – I have never sketched any of my paintings. I start with a blank canvas, and pallette full of what I am in the mood to work with. Once I start, I finish during that session – I never go back and retool the painting. It’a and all-in-one shot… recnetly I have been painting the canvas black to make the foreground “pop” when I paint… I also do that with some other colors to produce the same effect… such as yellow and purple. Looking back since I started, it’s really been an evolution.
Anything else you’d like a collector to know?
DP: “I have had this passion to paint since I was 13. My work had changed a lot over many years of painting…. I have a number of pieces in private collections and was very involved in the art community in New Jersey with one woman shows and group shows… My Dad has always said “You can’t keep all your paintings, you’re only going to get better”. And he was right – my work had grown tremendously, and I am very happy with where I am, right now.
For me, the ultimate compliment was when a friend said recently, “your painting looks like it should hang next to a Van Gogh”. Move over Vincent (laughing).