Today we’d like to introduce you to Alex Squires.
Hi Alex, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today.
I’ve been painting for as long as I can remember, but I started taking it seriously about five years ago when I discovered plein-air painting. Plein air is French for “in the open air,” it refers to painting onsite from life rather than in a studio from pictures. In 2019, while studying abroad in Europe, I felt like my eyes were glancing over some of the most beautiful places in the world without appreciating the details. I needed a way to pause and truly take in the beauty around me. I found an art supply store in Paris, bought some canvases, and painted en plein air for the first time without any idea what I was doing. Since then, I haven’t been able to put down my paintbrushes. I learned techniques and found my style by trial and error and by painting many bad paintings. I’ve traveled across the United States to paint scenes in person and always search my city for new places to capture in paint. As an extension of my interest in plein air, I took up painting live at weddings and other events, and in the past three years, I’ve painted 60+ weddings in Tennessee. I began sharing my art online, reaching an audience as broad as 3 million, allowing me to paint weddings and sell plein air paintings nationally. Moving to Knoxville, motivated by working on my Ph.D. in Mathematics, has brought new opportunities to expand my artistic community, and the mix of urban and natural scenery has brought refreshed inspiration.
Would it have been a smooth road, and if not, what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
I’ve faced some of the same challenges most artists face: the fear of failure and being haunted by comparison. The paranoia of creating bad artwork has often prevented me from painting altogether. Sharing my art on social media sometimes gives me the mindset that everything I create needs to be perfect when, in reality, artists create a lot of bad art in their careers. I started permitting myself to make bad paintings to get past that perfectionism. Whenever I started a new piece, I would tell myself that if I hated it, I could throw it away, and no one ever had to see it. And when that happens, I remind myself that no time was wasted as long as I enjoyed the time spent painting and learned more about how to do it well. It took the pressure off of me and let me stop overthinking and start painting.
I appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
My art is motivated by the desire to capture what photos need to do more justice. I aim to capture a moment’s feeling, light, color, and movement in my paintings. I want the viewer to feel like they are there, not by conveying every detail of the scene with exact realism, but by evoking the crisp air or twinkling lights with the expressive brush strokes of impressionism. I choose to paint en plein air for this reason: painting from life allows me to see and feel what I’m painting in a way that painting from a photograph doesn’t. Some of my paintings are easily recognized scenes, but I genuinely enjoy finding the beauty in places people may overlook at first. I want to show those who view my paintings how I see the world around me. I want them to notice the dancing shadows, the exciting shapes between tree branches, and the way the sun lights up the edge of a cloud. Though my paintings capture specific moments in time, they are familiar to many of us. They could bring the viewer back to a moment that a photo couldn’t quite capture or help them appreciate the beauty of something their eyes skip over every day. As a part of my love for plein air painting, I paint at weddings and other events. I love meeting new people and talking about art at these weddings, and I often let guests, especially children, add brushstrokes to the painting. I’ve gotten to travel across the country for wedding paintings and paint the most beautiful scenery. It fills me with joy that I can capture such lovely and memorable moments for my couples to cherish.
What do you like and dislike about the city?
I am endlessly inspired by the beauty I find every day in Knoxville. The contrast of the urban cityscape with the area’s mountains, rivers, and flowers provides a lifetime’s worth of subjects to paint. While I love traveling to paint new landscapes, I’ll always be proud of the greens and blues of Tennessee. The artistic community is active and welcoming; there is always a gallery I have yet to see and another artist to become friends with. I moved to Knoxville to work on my Math Ph.D. and feel at home at the University of Tennessee. The math department supports my art career; my colleagues and advisors come to my art events, and some even come to paint with me.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/alex.leigh.art
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/alex.leigh.arts
Image Credits
Caitlin Deloach, Katie Burdette, and Presley Carlton
