Writer Susan Kern-Fleischer
The sky’s the limit for acclaimed painter Virginia Brooks. As an older artist, she has never been more excited about her artistic career and her life.
Brooks’ subjects and style have evolved so much over the past few years that collectors are surprised by her new work. She also loves teaching emerging artists and works one-on-one with her students.
As one of the eight original artists who helped start the annual Hidden in the Hills Artist Studio Tour, Brooks is gearing up for her 27th consecutive year as a studio host for the popular event, which is scheduled to take place the last two weekends in November.
Coordinated by the nonprofit Sonoran Arts League, Hidden in the Hills is Arizona’s largest and longest-running artist studio tour. This year’s free, self-guided tour features 164 artists at 41 studios throughout Cave Creek, Carefree and North Scottsdale.
A Life Surrounded by Art
Brooks’ mother was a classical soprano, and her father was a syndicated cartoonist who later became a New England marine artist. She was given her first easel at age 4, and art eventually won out as her lifelong career.
“My father’s comic strip, ‘The Jackson Twins,’ was a continuing story about teenage twin girls that looked amazingly like me at 16,” Brooks says. “Everything I ever did that was bad but printable showed up in that comic strip. The strip ran throughout the United States and was translated into other languages for European audiences. The last eight years of its 32-year run, I helped write and draw the strip.”
Fortunately, her family could live anywhere that had a post office to get the comic strip to the syndicate in New York City. The Brooks family took full advantage of the opportunity.
“While we lived in Europe, I graduated from The American School in Lugano, Switzerland,” Brooks explains. “I absorbed all the art that Europe had to offer and had the perfect tour guide in my father. Later, while living in Bermuda, I began to indulge my love of ocean scenery.”
As a young oil painter, Brooks cherished the chance to study privately with many of her father’s original instructors on the north shore of Boston.
“There were renowned painters living in the area, and Gloucester and Rockport remain art havens to this day,” she says.
Looking back, Brooks credits her mentors and others close to her with helping her pivot from a challenging period in her life to what’s become an art adventure full of possibilities.
“When I first started painting professionally, I painted what I thought would sell,” the artist says. “My older work featured cowboy boots, old western trucks, and other Southwestern subjects I thought people wanted to buy. During those years, my mentors would gently encourage me to paint what I personally loved. I’m finally doing that, and it has made a big difference in the quality of my paintings.”
Discovering Her Inner Strength
In 2017, Brooks was struggling with what she called “medical mayhem.” Several serious operations and the onset of the pandemic in 2020 had a profound impact on her ability to paint.
“I found myself sitting at my kitchen table, looking out at the view and wondering why I didn’t feel the urge to paint during the pandemic,” she says. “I was not alone in experiencing this malaise. In fact, some artists changed mediums in hopes of reigniting their creative spark.”
One morning, she pulled out notes that she had written for a “someday” memoir, and she began to write.
“The writing was haphazard little vignettes at first, but soon it started to look like a memoir,” she recalls. “I became energized, hoping to get back to the lighthearted feeling I had when I was a young painter. I wanted to regain my earlier resilience. And, to my surprise, it showed up!”
A week later, Brooks felt a pull to finally return to her studio to paint.
“Three hours later, I had the painting that changed my outlook for my future,” she says. “My memoir began to show humor as well as the self-help strategies I was working with. I began to wonder what could lie ahead … as a painter and as a person. Fear of the unknown disappeared, and I found myself squarely on the road to regaining the resilience I had been missing.”
She painted a single, tall, leafy tree with soft hues of purple, pink, green, and yellow. The right side of the tree was dark, while the left side was brightly colored, showing the lightheartedness she was seeking to regain.
“The painting was my turning point, and I named it ‘Resilience,’” Brooks says. “Since then, I have been on an upward trajectory. My art career and who I am as a person have happily both changed. I have a new sense of artistic freedom.”
Next, she began to push herself beyond her comfort zone and experiment with palette knife painting.
“For all of those years, I had been afraid of using the palette knife,” Brooks says. “I took a one-day workshop and learned some tips and tricks. Our instructor encouraged us to find our own style, and I soon realized that I have a natural ability for it. It was a welcome surprise.”
She titled her first palette knife painting ‘On the Horizon.’ The oil painting depicts wild, rough waves hitting the shoreline while sunlight and blue sky break through the dark storm clouds. The horizon in the painting is infinite.
“Painting with the palette knife showed me that I am no longer wary of the unknown,” she notes. “I now have a feeling of what I call late-blooming happiness in my art.”
Her resiliency also led to more playfulness and spontaneity in her palette.
“I’m a great color mixer at this point,” Brooks says. “When I first started painting, everything was out of a tube. I’m now more subtle with color gradations, and I’m more apt to mix colors right on my canvas. The sense of freedom is everywhere.”
Brooks paints landscapes, both en plein air and in the studio.
“Landscape is my first love, whether it be the ocean, Tuscany and Provence, or the American West,” the artist adds. “My paintings are always more successful when I am there on location.”
Inspiration Specialist
Teaching for the past 22 years, Brooks also loves nurturing the artistic talent of others. The artist’s students range in age from 7 to 90 years old.
“I paint with my students, side by side, at two easels in my home studio,” she says. “I supply everything, and that allows new students to try oils without the expense of purchasing the brushes, paints and canvases.”
Her two-hour lessons are concentrated on creativity, and Brooks even does all the cleanup. She and her students spend all their time together on the painting experience.
“I want painters to feel like I did when I painted side by side with my instructors,” says Brooks, who doesn’t have students sign a lesson contract, thereby fostering their enjoyment and returning only if they feel they have had a successful experience.
One of the artist’s favorite quotes from Albert Einstein is pinned to her easel.
“It says, ‘Creativity is intelligence having fun,’ and that’s our goal,” Brooks explains. “I also work hard to notice when a student is developing a style of their own, and I love to promote that. It’s warm and personal, and that’s where inspiration shows up.”
She also teaches her students to embrace the unexpected.
“Sometimes you need to give your painting space and leave yourself open to surprises,” she says. “One afternoon I was working with the palette knife, and my hand slipped. I loved the surprise shape it created, and I turned it into a beautiful cloudscape.”
Recently, some of Brooks’ students began to affectionately call her an ‘inspiration specialist” — a title that she welcomes.
“It’s rewarding to nurture an artist at various stages of their career,” Brooks says. “I feel very fortunate to have watched artists develop their skills and blossom into talented professionals. Some of my long-time students have gone on to careers in fine art.”
As host of Studio No. 5 in Carefree during next month’s Hidden in the Hills Artist Studio Tour, Brooks will share her space with two guest artists — watercolorist Steve Stento and fine jeweler Donna Law, both of whom are also long-time participants of the event, having showcased their work at her studio for many years.
“I never expected to be this excited about my life as an artist in my older years,” Brooks says. “I hope I can inspire others to be resilient. Challenges can be worked through, and art is a creative way of giving yourself a peaceful future.”
27th Annual Hidden in the Hills Artist Studio Tour
Nov. 17–19 and Nov. 24–26 // 10 a.m.–5 p.m. // See website for participating studios // Free // hiddeninthehills.org
Comments by Admin