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Bio

Her mother is an English teacher and has written a novel and one of her older brothers is a comic book illustrator so it is not surprising that Elise Remender loved the arts at a very early age.

She remembers that when she was a little girl that her idea of a great gift was art supplies, and she has fond memories of her mother taking her to the art supply store. Elise says that her mother was always very supportive of her desire to draw and paint.

Elise attended an inner-city high school in Arizona and says the art program and classes offered there were “poor at best.” So she worked on her art at home on her own.

But college was a different and she says, “After I waited on tables I realized that I did not want to do that for the rest of my life. I knew I wanted to be an artist.”

Once the idea blossomed she says, “I dedicated all of my time to it.”

Her older brother was a strong influence and encouraged her to be practical because it is so difficult to make a living painting fine art as opposed to a career in animation. So taking her brother’s advise, she majored in children’s book illustrations and background painting for animation at the Academy of Art at the University of San Francisco. But that did not change her love for painting.

After graduation, Elise did some work for an internet animation studio but found it boring and financially impossible to survive. So she returned to Phoenix for a while to save some money. By luck, she found a painting job and although it was not exactly what she wanted, she learned to paint in an abstract style.

She says because of her training in children’s illustration, she has a background in realism that is tightly rendered. Elise paints beautiful landscapes, still life paintings, and flowers and says the beauty of the area where she lives artistically inspires her. And she feels that the green environment, architecture, and culture that surround her in abundance enriches her life, and that feeling can be seen in her paintings. Because she loves the water, she says her traditional paintings almost always have a lake or stream or the ocean in them.

She also paints abstract paintings and finds a release in them because she says. “Realism has so many rules.”

The freedom and growth she finds in abstract art made her realize her artistic horizons are limitless. Elise says she likes to “somehow” bring people viewing her art into her work. She says, “I use a lot of color fields with a lot of transparent layers.” And she adds, She says, “I really like color. I have a knack for color.”

In her spare time, Elise likes to spend time with her dog Pablo, a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel. But she says, “Painting is my life.”

Elise just recently started working for Rosenbaum Fine Art and says she has never had more artistic freedom. “This is the happiest I’ve ever been,” she says. “I have complete artistic freedom, and that enables me to do a much better job.”

In the future, Elise says, “I would like to continue on the path I’m on. I’m very content.” And she says, “I would like to go further into abstract. It has so many possibilities.”

Collections/Exhibits

ELISEREMENDER