Photos by Brandon Sullivan Phoenix-area artist Claudia Hartley takes time out from work at her studio, where canvases stored neatly in slots, vibrant completed pieces, and brushes in small pails speak volumes of her signature artistry.

If asked to describe Claudia Hartley’s paintings in just one word, many would say “happy.” And the artist never tires of hearing that. “I’ve loved art all of my life,” she says, “and it warms my heart to know that I’m able to pass that love on to others.” Full of color and motion, her paintings capture the wonder of the world around us.  

Hartley’s love affair with art began as a child, when her favorite present was always a new box of Crayola Crayons. It was the beginning of a lifelong fascination with color and texture that is readily apparent in her work even today. That fascination with color was fostered during her studies at the University of Georgia.  

While completing her bachelor of fine arts degree, Hartley became ambitious and determined, qualities that have served her through the years. “I’ve always wanted to ‘keep up with the Masters,’ to have my work stand the test of time,” she comments. “So, when I am planning a painting, I always strive for the best composition, the best colors and the best work I can possibly create.” Inspired by abstract artists in particular, Hartley likes Cézanne specifically because he abstracted real things. “He did those little blocky houses in the distance,” she explains. “You can tell from my work that I still like those little houses.”

After graduating from college, Hartley moved away from abstracts, choosing instead to paint portraits as she raised a family. Along the way, she studied with Alice Williams, an artist who had learned specific Russian color techniques. Hartley loved the Russians’ use of color, but says that before this course of study, “I never could figure out how they knew to put red, say, in the corner of an eye, or in an ear.” Learning Williams’ system made Hartley’s work even richer, as it opened up a new world for her.

A later divorce spurred the painter to obtain a teaching certificate and open her own art school. At the height of the school’s success, however, she developed chronic fatigue syndrome and a chemical sensitivity to oil paints. She substituted acrylic paints, and while they were better for her, Hartley still had problems with their fumes and found that she had to paint outside—even in the winter. “I was freezing most of the time, and the humidity made the canvases warp and grow moldy,” she remembers.

Forced to close the art school, as a result of being ill, she came to Phoenix to visit family, fell in love with the area, and eventually moved to Arizona. She now paints in a well-vented and screened studio with panoramic views of the mountains and desert, which serve as her daily inspiration. Better still, with the assistance of alternative medicine and her own careful vigilance, her illnesses are under control, and she is painting vibrant landscapes and inviting interiors.

In The Best of the Southwest, acrylic on canvas, 30" x 40", a colorful dappled sky with billowy clouds is the backdrop for a desert landscape in bloom.

Hartley says she now combines vacations and her work in order to sketch the inspiring things she sees while traveling. Sketching also allows her to notice things that that she might not observe in a photograph. Indeed, her sketchbooks are travelogues, full of notes and detailed, animated drawings that she later re-creates on canvas.

A work titled Little French House, for example, depicts fields in France that are redolent with lavender, and rich earth that is teeming with life. Central to this setting is a white house with a red roof; it sits next to a stand of green and purple Mediterranean cypress trees that seem to sway gently in a summer breeze. Color complements pattern here, revealing the essence of the place and highlighting the emotion of the scene.

While much of her work is travel-inspired, interiors of homes that are both warm and welcoming likewise become subject matter. Hartley explains that the rooms are largely influenced by her Southern upbringing: “The social life is important to Southern life, and warm, cozy rooms are paramount. I want people to feel as if they can just walk into my rooms and relax,” she remarks.

The beauty of our own region also finds its way onto her canvases. The Best of the Southwest, for instance, marries majestic purple and reddish mountains and Hartley’s trademark rolling clouds and rich blue and orange skies. Saguaros stand watch over a dazzling display of cactus flowers.