San Francisco Voice

*”Morning Glory” by Rosalind Solomon

Rosalind Solomon has spent more than thirty years doing commercial artwork, primarily illustrations for such projects as children’s books and advertising packaging. In recent years, she has begun to make the switch to fine art, using inspiration from her own spiritual journey and from all of her years of making art to create paintings that are the manifestation of this personal history. She is currently working on opening her own studio in her home and continuing to explore this new aspect of her artwork. In this interview, she tells us about this new work as well as her experiences as an artist and a resident of San Francisco.

What can you tell us about the basics of your artwork? First, what is the history of your work as a commercial artist?

After receiving a Bachelor’s degree in Sociology and English that seemed suddenly inappropriate to who I was, I moved to Los Angeles to train as an old-fashioned apprentice at an airbrush studio located in Crossroads of The World. I worked with Ron Kriss, noted in the 70’s and 80’s for his stylized airbrush movie posters and record album jackets. Eventually, I started getting some of my own work in advertising, mostly doing Hi-tech lettering and logos. (This was, of course, before this field was taken over by Photoshop artists).

I moved back to San Francisco in 1980, and started working with different Publishing houses, such as Addison-Wesley, doing children’s books and textbooks, which really appealed to me. I was one of the few children’s illustrators who worked in airbrush, and I had a solid background in the Natural Sciences, so I was eventually channeled into doing mostly biology and science, which lent itself well to the media. I also continued doing advertising packaging. Since then I have done 10 children’s books, countless textbooks, games, puzzles, greeting cards, toy boxes, advertising packaging, and even a Tarot Deck and an Astrology Calendar.

What have been some of your favorite projects over the years?

My favorite projects have been randomly scattered over the past three decades. Probably the Tarot Deck (I studied Tibetan Thangka art to create a non-verbal lexicon) and Astrology Calendar were among my favorites. I also really enjoyed illustrating a tiny children’s board book for Random House (for the under five set) called The Little Little Book. The most intense work I ever did was a two month project for Walt Disney Productions designing an advertising box using some of my own projections of what finished characters from the animated film, Hercules, would look like.

And finally, what can you tell us about your meta art?

Over the past decade, I have begun selling many of my illustrations as fine art prints, and having been holding shows in several galleries and various restaurants and offices around the San Francisco Bay area. The work that I enjoy the most, and which seems to be collecting a bit of a following, has been my more metaphysical art from my Astrology Calendar, my Relationship Tarot Deck, some work from the Quabalah, and, most recently, what I call my “MetaArt”.

I looked up the Definition of “Metaphysics” and it was “that which you study after you study physics”. After years of illustration in all the sciences, I have learned a lot about drawing Reality; in other words, how to make things look and feel like real objects or situations. In my MetaArt, I have taken all the images and archetypes gathered over the years from all of the cultural, spiritual, mythological, fantastical, and metaphysical subjects from around the world and throughout time that I have collected in my consciousness, and have begun painting my own Spiritual Visual Journey. The first, “Leap of Faith”, was the first actual manifestation of all my accumulated spiritual learning to trust in the Universe and my own intuition combined in a painting.

Where can we see your work now?

I currently am turning my own studio/home into my Gallery, getting ready for Artspan’s San Francisco Open Studios in October. Much of my work, commercial and Fine, can be viewed on my website, rsolomon.com.

There are always times when artists struggle with inspiration or with their process; what have you done to overcome the difficulties and continue successfully with your work?

Since art has been my “Day Job” for the last three decades, artist’s block has
not been the issue for me that it has for many artists. Working daily and, occasionally around the clock, tends to short-circuit the block. It was a problem when I was just starting out; and when I have taken time off, or if I have an unusually complicated piece, either intellectually complex or visually intricate, it does rear its ugly head now and then. When that happens, I find persistence doesn’t always work; usually I have to stop, clear my mind with an entirely different process, and come back with a totally different perspective and mood. To me, artists’ block is an anxious mental space, in which the way I “see” has to be adjusted.

What art goals do you have for yourself?

Currently, I am in the process of establishing myself in Art Licensing, where I will, hopefully, be able to paint more of what I would like to paint. I would like to become well-known enough as a fine artist that I can support myself with selling paintings for walls and licensing, since I think the illustration field is no longer working for me.

How does the city inspire or affect your art work?

I live one block from the Ocean, near Golden Gate Park. I have always lived near as much nature as I can here in San Francisco. I have found the Park and Ocean amazingly rich in subject matter for photographing anything I need to draw into my paintings. The difficult thing about the City, however, is the fact that it IS such a sophisticated City. Getting into a gallery that isn’t a co-operative is a more complex process than it would be in a smaller city or town. So there are positives and negatives!

Where, besides GG Park and the ocean, can you be found when you’re just out and about in the city?

I can be found up in Golden Gate Heights as my favorite walking locales, of course; If I’m shopping, it’s at Wasteland on Haight Street. On Wednesday or Sunday Evenings, until recently, I could always be found dancing freestyle at Barefoot Boogie. I LOVE to shop for groceries at all my favorite little Asian and Greek markets on Irving Street.

What advice do you have for emerging artists?

I think the best advice there is is to find out what you really want to paint….and then do it. The most successful people I know have done just that. If you really want to, and you have any talent and persistence at all, it will win out. The other important piece of advice is to network. No one succeeds by themselves locked away in a room forever.

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