Amanda Fish has been steeped in art her entire life. Born and raised in the San Fernando Valley, her mother, an artist, encouraged Fish’s creativity from a young age, and regularly took Fish and her sister (also an artist) to museums and galleries. Her mother was also an avid antique collector so Fish grew up surrounded by the kind of lovely objects that many years later often form the centerpiece in her timeless still lifes.
Lyrical Lemons, oil on linen, 9 x 18"
“When you’re surrounded by creative people, it rubs off on you when you’re young,” Fish says. “My mother was always sketching and painting, and we spent a lot of time with our grandparents who were creative as well. That was the wonderful, warm atmosphere of creativity that was all around us.”
Although she graduated with a fine art degree from Mount St. Mary’s University in Los Angeles, Fish entered the museum sector, which included half a decade at the J. Paul Getty Museum. When she relocated to Newport Beach to be closer to family, Fish began showing her watercolors in galleries and juried shows, and forging relationships in the flourishing plein air community along the Southern California coast.
After 20 years as a watercolorist, in 2003 Fish felt an undeniable urge to transition to oils—and within a couple of years, devoted herself to painting full time.
Copper with Fruit and Hydrangeas, oil on linen, 9 x 12"
“There comes a point where the confidence grows and you meet more artists, and have more conversations with them and you see that it’s possible,” says Fish. “We have such a great community of artists here, we all encourage each other and from there it just grows. I just sort of jumped in and doors starting opening and I just kept on walking through.”
Fish honed her oil painting skills in plein air but never quite felt that landscapes were her true calling.
“I remember clearly one day thinking about the still lifes I had seen in museums and thinking that I wanted to paint something like Chardin. Looking at a traditional, classical still life, just lit something up in me and I fell in love…Maybe it’s the play of the light and the way that objects are gathered,” says Fish, who thinks of her compositions as visual vignettes. “Those things are deeply rooted in you and you find joy in something you gravitated to you when you were young.”
Fragrant Splendor, oil on linen, 12 x 16"
Fish thought about the collection of beautiful pieces she had inherited from her mother and the idea of going to the market and selecting the perfect piece of fruit for the composition. (Yes, Fish is the person in the produce aisle searching for that perfect pear with the orange stripe of ripeness and studying it to see if it will stand upright). Sometimes her subject matter comes in the form of gifts—like the lemons still attached to their leaves in Lyrical Lemons that came from a student’s property or the unique vessel in Mandarin Oranges with Asian Vessel, a gift from an artist friend who knew she would appreciate it.
Mandarins with Asian Vessel, oil on linen, 12 x 16"
“I love the control of just being here at the house and then you really start studying it and what makes it sing…it’s the light,” Fish says. “The light that dances across all the objects and the act of painting it is so beautiful. I love all of the elements that come with being a still life artist. There are so many aspects and so much to think about my mind really goes nuts with enjoyment…it’s just endless and I love that.”
Amanda Fish will have her work on display at Festival of Arts of Laguna Beach through September 1, and in the California Art Club’s 112th Gold Medal Exhibition at the Bowers Museum in Santa Ana through September 10. —
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