Art Depicts Life

Things become obscure just before twilight. While colors intensify in the last rays of sun, figures begin to blur. When looking at Abby Warman’s Just Before Dusk, viewers may think it is the brunette’s favorite time of the day. But whether she is happy or in a pensive mood, it’s a mystery. Impressionism often lets the viewer decide.

“My goal is to capture the spirit and vitality of my subject. I omit certain details to lend some mystery and interest to my work,” Warman says.

Many of Warman’s works reflect her years spent near the beach at Naples, Florida. A young friend is the model for many of the paintings of a woman tiptoeing in the ocean. Warman captured her maturing from a young married woman to a mother of five children.

“I used a lot of photographs of her because a mom with young kids just doesn’t stand there forever like that,” she says with a laugh.

Warman moved to Leland with her husband five years ago. His health was failing, and her daughter planned to help her care for him. But after only a few months, her daughter was suddenly diagnosed with stage 4 esophageal cancer. She died four years ago. Warman’s husband of 39 years died about two years ago. Warner stopped painting to be a caregiver for them both.

“I felt inundated with writing obits and grieving,” she says. “I couldn’t paint. I tried to paint but I was not at all happy with what I did. I was throwing things away. Painting and art have been my passion all my life, then all of a sudden I didn’t care. Now I feel like I’m finally coming out from under a rock.”

Warman has resumed painting the still lifes and figuratives that bring her joy. She had two paintings in the Azalea Festival Art Show at the Hannah Block Historic USO/Community Arts Center in April. They featured two sous-chefs in a kitchen and a woman entering a garden. She recently placed four paintings in the Sunset River Gallery in Calabash, North Carolina.

“I mostly paint in oil but started out in watercolor. My favorite subject matter is figurative. I love to paint people enjoying life,” she states.

Her subjects are often found soaking up the sun. Whether in the morning, full sun, or even dappled shade as in First Picnic, she sets the mood with the right sense of light. Her impressionistic strokes let beholders decide much of the emotion behind each scene.

She has captured beach life with kids splashing in the waves and dog walkers strolling on the sand, but her works also include venues such as coffee shops, restaurants, busy street fairs, and park benches. She captures people out and about and having fun, like the jazz band playing for their public in Jammin.

Warman said she likes to “shoot from the hip” when she paints. She tries not to overthink the details.

“If I can paint something quickly and not fuss over it, it’s better. I like to paint alla prima (in one session). As a painter, you’ve got to know when to stop. You can ruin a painting; I’ve done it,” she says.

Aside from the Azalea Festival Art Show, Warman has participated in the yearly Landfall Art Show. She won Best in Show in 2021 for a bar scene of Port Land Grille in Lumina Station.

“I love the Landfall art show. It’s a lovely show and my work has always sold there,” she says.

Warman earned a B.A. in Fine Arts at Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs, New York. She was able to take workshops with one of her favorite watercolorists, Charles Reid. Other artists’ workshops she’s enjoyed include C.W. Mundy, Raymond Everett Kintsler, Charles Movalli, Laura Robb, Carolyn Anderson, and Wilmington’s Dan Beck.

Her work is installed in the permanent collection of the Everhart Museum in Scranton, Pennsylvania. A dozen of her paintings are featured in the Art City Gallery in Greenville, North Carolina.

To view more works, visit her website, www.AbbyWarman.com.