Winterfest Interview with Clare Sieffert

Interviews by Fans
Title:	Winterfest Interview with Clare Sieffert
Interviewer:	Winterfest
Interviewee:	Clare Sieffert
Date(s):	2005
Medium:	online
Fandom(s):	Beauty and the Beast
External Links:	interview is here, Archived version
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In 2005, Clare Sieffert was interviewed for Winterfest.

See Winterfest Interview Series.

Some Excerpts

I was captured by B&B from the first broadcast of the pilot episode. I never missed an episode after that. I remember speeding in my car one time, in order not to miss the start of the show, and thinking that I was being a fool for putting myself in danger for the sake of a TV show. I bought a TV house antenna and then got cable, for the express purpose of getting better reception for Beauty and the Beast. One of the many things that attracted me to the series was its visual beauty. The cinematography was gorgeous, and I was constantly seeing fantasy images that were beautifully composed, atmospheric, and romantic. I was, to be corny about it, inspired. (grin) I had been involved with the original fan-run Star Trek conventions, and had done a few paintings for them. So when I heard about the B&B convention that the Creation Company was running in NYC, and that they were going to have an art show, I painted "Vincent's Oil Portrait". I experienced my 15 minutes of fame at that con. I was an instant celebrity, and my cheeks ached from the smile I couldn't get off my face. And the rest, as they say, was history.

My favorite media is usually the one I'm into at the moment. One of my downfalls is that I never concentrate on one media enough to really master it. By professional standards, my technique is not outstanding in any of them. My style in all of them is photorealistic. This is more a result of uptightness and a failure of imagination and courage than anything else. Photo-realism is always safe.

In the early years, we artists were mostly dependent on a very limited number of publicity stills for our reference. In order to paint the beautiful scenes that had inspired me from the show, I had to depend on very poor quality photographs taken off of the TV screen. I had help from other fans who took photos for me. I wish I could remember all of their names, so I could give them all credit here. Each of us had video taped from the broadcasts (there were no commercial tapes yet) on different VCRs. We were using different TVs and different cameras, so we all captured slightly different versions of the same shots which provided me with more visual information that way. What I couldn't see in one photo, I could in another. But the reference I had to work from still stunk! Oh to have high quality screen captures from commercial DVDs!!

For most of my early B&B work, it was a matter of an image or idea that grabbed me and wouldn't let me go until I made it a reality. The process might go something like this: "Gee, B&B would really lend itself to a stained glass window! But who would support me for the year it would take to create? Maybe I could paint a picture of a stained glass window. I really like Art Nouveau posters. That style is difficult for me to design, but it's perfect for stained glass, and maybe I can try anyway. Now, which of my reference photos would work with such an idea?"

Or I'd see a particular image on the show and I'd be driven to paint it. Since my ideas are always so involved and time consuming, I've never had one that "practically draws itself". It's more like the idea stands over my shoulder and whips me like a slave master.

If it works at all, my end product is usually pretty much what I envisioned from the start, although never as perfect. But it is always a great satisfaction to see my idea made real and a very different experience from seeing it in my head. I don't remember thinking of any spin-offs of my B&B work, though I often get spin-off ideas when doing my eggart.

Ah, but I did have reference for that painting [By Candlelight]. I used part of a painting by Boris Vallejo. You can find it inside, and on the back cover of "Mirage". It's of a human man making love to a winged fantasy woman. I wanted reference of a couple in a romantic clench wherein you could see most of their faces. I wanted something that was very romantic while leaving much to the imagination. In other words - R rated, but erotic. In "By Candlelight", V&C could be fully clothed from mid-chest down, for all we know. Yeah,... right! (grin) I have three reference photos of Catherine's profile which fit with Vallejo's piece. That is very unusual. Think of any celebrity you like and try to find photos of their profile. I'll bet you can't. I painted "By Candlelight" after I had sculpted Vincent's bust. So I took the bust, posed it and lit it to match the pose and lighting of the man's face in Vallejo's piece, and photographed it for my reference. I even made white clay eyelids to temporarily close Vincent's eyes. What? Obsessive compulsive? Me?… Nah!

Painting that piece was an unique experience. I sat at my easel laughing out loud and exclaiming, "They're gonna plotz!!", referring to my fellow fans at that year's con. Sometimes, when I've been working for a long time on a piece, I feel like I'm too close to it, and can no longer judge it objectively. So I took the painting over to a neighbor's house and told her that I needed the reaction of another woman. I held the painting up to her, her jaw dropped, and she gasped. I said "thanks", turned around, and went home. What fun! A local travel agency had a poster in their window about a honeymoon promotion. I went in and begged them for the poster. It provided the reference for Catherine's dress in "Things that Should Be". (wedding painting) I had a photo of Catherine in which her head was at the same angle, and was lit from the same direction, as the model in the poster.

I would have done more pieces like that, if I had found other reference images I could use.

Are you kidding? Me? In the closet? In the first few years of my enthusiasm, my biggest concern was boring my friends and family with my obsession. That same fault-finding friend once made an acid remark about - "First it was Star Trek, now Beauty and the Beast." To which I replied that I didn't think two enthusiasms in twenty years was excessive. To me, something to be enthusiastic about, to go over the top with, is a necessity of life. Life is pretty dull without it. My friends and family just accept my craziness as being a basic part of me. They can see that it makes me happy, so what's to worry?

Because of the labor intensive way I work, financially I can't afford to do any more B&B pieces. There is no longer any venue where I can sell my work at a price that will pay for my time. No one is sadder about this than I am.