Q. What kind of maker are you? (please include ALL mediums in which you create your art/craft)

A. I am a visual artist, working primarily in oil and watercolor & ink.

Q. When did you start designing and/or building

A. I must admit that I’ve been drawing or creating visual art for longer than my memory allows. Seeing my natural interest in drawing, my mother enrolled me in visual art classes through the Visual Art Institute located in Salt Lake City, UT at the age of 9. By the time I turned 12, I was figure drawing and painting in oil. From that point on, I knew that I wanted to pursue visual art as a profession.

Q. What inspired you to start making?

A. I was one of those kids who would spend hours drawing. I loved creating visual stories, an outlet for my imagination, but I also remember visually studying the world thinking, “how would I draw that?”. This is why my mother enrolled me in art classes. I suppose I naturally leapt into visual art as a medium through which I could channel my inner need to create and express.

Q. What do you do for work currently? Where are you based out of?

A. Currently, I have my own business as a professional visual artist (Hadley Anne Rampton Fine Art LLC) and work as a Fine Art Consultant at Phillips Gallery, both based out of Salt Lake City, UT.

Q. What is the most engaging part of building for you? What do you enjoy most? What do you enjoy least?

A. In my case, I will change “building” to painting and I would say that the most engaging part is being in the outdoors, creating my impression of not only what I am seeing but feeling. This is the pleasure of being a plein air painter. What I enjoy most are the hours when I am absorbed in my surroundings and my process, totally focused and lost in the moment at hand. What I enjoy least are the summer’s biting flies. There are many days when I return home with welts!

Q. When do you feel most inspired?

A. I feel most inspired when I encounter a new scene, or perhaps a scene I have painted before but that I have come upon in a different season or with a fresh light. One might then ask, well what is it about the scene that inspires you? The answer to that is more difficult to put into words, but I suppose I would ask my interviewer to think of a time when they have come upon a sight that causes them to pause, take a second look and perhaps stay a while to contemplate.

Q. Where do you want to take your building and designing skills? What do you hope to learn and do with your career?

A. I‘ve been painting professionally for 20 years now and during that time my work has developed rather organically, meaning I have not intentionally driven it in any direction. Rather, it has grown and taken new turns on its own based on my reaction to what I’m painting and new ways I may have of seeing and applying the paint. I can see my skills, understanding and focus continuing to grow in this manner. As for what I would like to do with my career, I would say that I hope to continue advancing and exploring in the manner in which I have referenced, and to broaden my reach of communities and individuals who experience, and hopefully, enjoy my work.

Q. What are some of the biggest challenges you face as a custom builder and designer?

A. Marketing and selling my work is definitely the biggest challenge, and it isn’t just because of the obvious difficulties wrapped up in the sale of art, what many perceive to be a non-essential item. Marketing my paintings in many ways means that I must market myself. As an introvert, I often struggle with this. I also work as a Fine Art Consultant at Phillips Gallery and I feel much more comfortable selling and advocating for other artists and their work than I do for myself and my work. But, if I want to make a living as an artist, that’s part of the game!

Q. What are some pieces that you’ve made that you are the most proud of?

A. I would say that I am most proud of the pieces that give me the greatest struggle but succeed in working out. The struggle may be due to heightened challenges inherent in plein air painting (wind, rain, snow, heat, cold, flies), or because the painting is not going in the directionI want it to. It can feel like it’s putting up a fight, but it is most often those times when I have a breakthrough because the painting forces me into an uncomfortable realm, uncomfortable because it is unknown to me. I take chances and, arguably somewhat obstinately, push myself to evolve.

Q. If you could collaborate with one maker/artist (living or dead) who would it be?

A. Perhaps Yo-Yo Ma. I’m sure he could fit me into his schedule (haha). Creating together out in nature would likely be magical.

For fun:

Q. What is your favorite tool/instrument/toy right now?

A. Related to painting or outside of painting? If related to painting, I would say my palette knife. It has been my primary tool for laying down paint for about 15 years now. With a palette knife, I don’t have quite the control I have with a brush. This allows for a degree of chaos to enter with each stroke. I enjoy this bit of unknown as it allows me to free myself of too much control, thereby opening myself up to the expected where often the most intriguing things happen, and growth occurs.

Q. Favorite design style? (This can be interior design, photography painting, architecture, etc.)

A. Oh, I’m terrible with favorites. I tend to be drawn to elements of a variety of styles. In painting, I am seduced by the gestural mark making and color of Abstract Expressionism, the sensitivity to changing light of Impressionism, the trompe l’oeil of Renaissance space evident in, well, Renaissance art as well as Neoclassicism, and I could go on. In architecture, the human proportions and reason of the Renaissance style appeals but so does the elegance of the Victorian era, the geometries of Art Deco and architecture as sculpture in our contemporary time (thinking Frank Gehry). When it comes to Interior Design, Mid-Century Modern is high on my list. As I said in the beginning, I’m terrible with favorites!

Q. Favorite thing to listen to while you work?

A. Often, I prefer to just listen to the sounds of nature surrounding me. If I do plug into something else, it can be music that somehow suits my environment or even an audio book. Funny how I can listen to a language narrative while remaining very focused on my visual creation. The brain is amazing.

Q. Favorite outfit/footwear to wear to work?

A. Whatever will keep me comfortable in the climates in which I work, and something that I don’t mind being adorned by haphazard paint.

Q. Favorite post-work activity to unwind?

A. Ah, most definitely a trail run or skate ski, depending on the season, with my ever loving border collie companion, Phoebe. After all, we’re already in the wilderness, why not take advantage of it?

Q. Favorite food:

A. Oh dear, this is another area where I cannot select a favorite. There is such wonderful variety in food and cooking throughout the world, indicative of our incredible diversity of culture. I enjoy experiencing all of it.

Q. Favorite band?

A. Again, I’m afraid I cannot select a favorite. From classical to jazz, rock & roll to country, and so much in between, my tastes are eclectic and enjoying music in its variety is what I love.

Q. Favorite place you’ve traveled?

A. Another subject where I can’t choose a favorite . I’ve had the great privilege of travelling widely, visiting most countries in Western and Eastern Europe, Russia, the Southern Caucusus, Turkey, Israel and the West Bank, Morocco, Tanzania, Thailand, Bolivia and Cuba. Each experience has been incredible.

Q. Place you want to travel to most and why?

A. There are still so many places of want to see and experience but currently the Stans (Kyrgystan, Uzbekistan, etc.) are high on my list.

Q. Where can people contact you and find out more about you?

People can contact me through my website, Hadleyrampton.com,

Instagram @hadleyrampton,

Facebook @hadleyanneramptonfineart,

or via email at hadleyrampton@comcast.net.