By Lisa Carolin
You may have recently noticed the artist with her pallet pointed at the Common Grill. Her name is Carlye Crisler, and the local resident is a big fan of plein air painting, which means painting outdoors.
Crisler can be found painting from her car 98 percent of the time, something she is partial to doing on Sundays because she doesn’t have trouble with illegal parking spaces that day. She likes oil painting, which just requires a canvas, brushes, and a pallet with paint.
“It’s something I can take on the road with me,” said Crisler. “I chose plein air painting because I can do it anywhere.”
She describes herself as a contemporary impressionist. Crisler is a photographer, too, but doesn’t like it when someone says that her paintings look as good as photographs because she wants them to look like paintings.
“You get more information when you’re looking at real things rather than photographs,” said Crisler. “I prefer to work from life because there are thousands of more pieces of information you can see with your eye than with a camera.”
She likes to work on a painting, like the Common Grill, during the same time frame from day to day because the light is similar. Crisler has painted other locations in and around Chelsea like the Clock Tower.
Crisler is originally from Chicago and moved to Ann Arbor in 1980 when she and her husband moved into his father’s (Fritz Crisler) house.
She spent 40 years doing other types of painting and drawing as well as costuming and welding. It was after her husband died in 2010 that she moved to Chelsea and rediscovered her love for plein air painting.
“I want to do more paintings of Chelsea because we have so many wonderful old houses,” said Crisler. “I like to do neighborhoods. It’s a case of driving around and finding something that strikes me as a good composition. I’m never going to run out of places I want to paint.”
She’s gotten a warm reception from those in the art scene in Chelsea and her work is now for sale at the Chelsea Underground Art Gallery on South Main Street.
“The one that most recently sold was the painting of the granary on Chelsea-Dexter Road.” said Crisler. “I like doing industrial sites and like to include cars, heavy equipment, and telephone wires. They’re not typically considered pretty but make the image more complicated looking.”
She recently traveled to Cuba as one of 100 artists who went with Plein Air Magazine.
“It was grueling because you had to drag all your equipment and the pavement was lumpy and it was easy to fall,” she said. “You get inspiration from other painters and we learned from each other.”
Crisler is happy to be back in her hometown doing what she loves. Keep your eyes open and you might get to see her at work creating her own version of the Common Grill.
