When you are an artist people ask you questions: 

• Is you name actually Maxine?  No, no it is not.  Max comes from my maiden name-Maxfield.  Also, Redpath is not a native American name—it derives from the town of Redpath in Scotland.

• When did you start drawing?  I experimented early on with the contents of my diaper and the wall of my grandmother’s bedroom…after that I learned how to use crayons.

• Why do you draw naked people?  There is nothing more glorious than the colors that radiate from human skin and the unique puzzle of each discreet human body.  I could draw apples, trees, or mountains and make them up—you must carefully observe the human body to create a beautiful drawing.  And my models are nude—not naked, they prefer it that way. 

• How long does it take you to do a painting/drawing?  70 years.

• Do you use photographs in your work?  Photos flatten and create emotional distance.  The focus of my work is careful observation and immediate response. Very, very rarely will I take a photo of my subject and then only for a reference of specific problems or because the flowers are dying.

 

I never doubted I would be an artist, but it took a long, long time to get here. 

 

I am indebted to a 4th grade teacher and my high school art teacher, as well as several moms of my good friends who took me under their wings and into their hearts, encouraged me, fed me, and kept me going. Then I had a 30-year hiatus while mothering and teaching took precedence and all my energy.  Now I look forward to 30 years of creating art.  Sounds like life balance, don’t you think?

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Currently, you will find me in my new, very tiny, “Hole in the Wall” studio at the General Gomez Gallery surrounded by the accoutrements of acrylic and oil paints, a light box in the corner may display a still life composition or a vase of flowers…

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“…what holds it all together is the process of bringing color into the work. The color builds until the moment arrives when I think …

’it needs more red.’

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I have shown my work in Placer, Amador and Sacramento County galleries, and  have been an on-going member of the Placer Arts Studios Tour and the Auburn Art Walks. I teach figure drawing and beginning drawing classes at the General Gomez Art Center where I also coordinate the non-instructed evening figure drawing sessions.

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(Max studied as an Art Major at Modesto Junior College and as a Studio Painting Major at Sonoma State University.  She completed her BA in Art and Liberal studies, and then earned a California Teaching Credential with an advanced supplement credential in Art, as well as an MA in Reading/Language Arts, and a Miller-Unruh Reading Specialist Credential from California State University, East Bay. She trained as a Reading Recovery Teacher, and was awarded an MS in Reading Intervention from Walden University. She continues her studies in art with nationally and internationally known artists of the Realism School. )

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