Needham artist’s collection featured at library

[ccfic caption-text format="plaintext"]By Laura Drinan
Hometown Weekly Reporter

As visitors of the Needham Free Public Library walked up the steps to the second floor, their eyes were drawn to the beautiful splashes of color on the wall of the Friends of the Needham Public Library Gallery. This summer, the gallery showcased the paintings of Paula Pitman Brown, a Needham artist, whose featured collection, “Suburban Landscapes,” showed nature and civilization’s coexistence.

Inspired by the world around her, Pitman Brown paints scenes of everyday life with an emphasis on the wildlife that continues to thrive in suburbia. However, Pitman Brown’s paintings show interesting and nontraditional perspectives. One piece, “The Conversation, Boys and Crows,” shows a murder of crows on a telephone wire looking down at three boys chatting. Another, “The Hum of Summer Lawns,” shows garden insects in the grass with a man mowing the lawn in the background.

“I conceptualize my paintings with a number of things. Usually the first inspiration is from something that I see … Then I take this image or idea and let it go into the realm of my imagination and memories,” said Pitman Brown. “I get stories in my head of what I want to communicate, which continue to develop through the creation of the piece. Memories add a big part to my pieces.”

A striking feature of Pitman Brown’s collection is the brilliant array of colors she uses in each painting. As if her canvas acted as a melting pot, the colors intertwine, compliment, and blend with each other to create a stunning and harmonious piece. Pitman Brown utilizes basic color theory to create her color palette for each piece, but usually tries to throw in a “wild card” color to catch one’s attention and spark interest in the piece. As a teacher at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, Pitman Brown encourages her students to experiment with color to evoke emotion.

“I try to use color in many ways depending on what I am thinking about or feeling in a particular piece. I really enjoy the discovery of mixing color and seeing what colors do together,” said the Needham artist. Her piece, “Winter Dream, Wish Fulfillment, Snow All Around The Bed,” shows a family fast asleep in bed, while the yellow eyes of wild animals glisten in the room. However, while the dark colors and the ferociousness of the animals’ eyes give the piece a nightmarish vibe, the blond, curly-haired child asleep in the middle of the bed, wearing bright blue footie pajamas, and full, red lips brings a peaceful element to the painting. Meanwhile, the yellow flowers and sky of “Hot Hummingbird Sunflower Summer” calms and relaxes the viewer, taking them back to a hot summer evening surrounded by nature.

Pitman Brown, a longtime Massachusetts resident, finds a great deal of inspiration in her very own town of Needham, off of which many of her landscape pieces are based. As a Massachusetts resident, Pitman Brown’s fantastic work continues to be influenced by the state’s culture and world-renowned art institutions.