What is the best subject for the award-winning Chatham painter Maryalice Eizenberg?

“Anything that attracts my attention,” she said during a telephone interview last week. This could be the angular foundation of a structure, or as she wrote in her artist’s statement, “a pattern of light that makes form, saturates color and creates mood.”

In Sylvan Gardens, a favorite spot to paint in West Chatham, she might look for patterns of light and dark, or the “wonderful lacy pattern of dappled light on the ground.” In a marsh or tidal water, she’ll look for rivulets between the sand.

“I’m really a tonal painter,” she says. “I’m attracted more by patterns than color.” In her beautiful painting “The Room Where It Happens,” the structure of the greenhouse glass forms a pattern above the bench, pots and flowers in the greenhouse.

Eizenberg has been painting since she was very young and has developed a strong reputation as a plein air painter. Yet growing up in Chicopee, everyone in her family was a musician. She played the piano until she was 16. At that point she said, “I want to do visual arts,” she recalls. “They were very supportive,” she said of her family. She went on to study studio art at Clark University.

Eizenberg paints every day, and her medium is oil. “I like an opaque medium I can push around. I’m a little bit of a cowboy with my materials,” she adds. “I’m rough. I beat up my brushes.”

She recently won second place in oils/acrylics at the 27^th annual juried All Cape Art Show for her painting “Organic Farming in Vinales.” The painting came from a trip to Cuba, right before the pandemic shut everything down in 2020.

In the morning, she rises at 5:45 a.m., and 15 minutes later is outside walking with Chatham artist Carol Odell. By 9 or 10 a.m. she’s in her studio, painting until lunchtime. After lunch, she returns to the studio, and stops at 4 or 5 p.m. If it’s a nice day, she might have a plan for a plein air painting. She distinguishes between the early morning light, which is rosy, pink-tinged light, and the late afternoon light, which is golden.

For about nine years she painted still lifes outdoors in her front yard. Of late, she has been painting historic houses in her neighborhood in Chatham’s Old Village.

“I would go early and wait for the sun to go around to the angle where I thought wow, I want to paint that,” she says. “I wait for the moment. It is a moment. You have 15 minutes to set the light in your painting.” For painters who aren’t that fast, this is a challenge.

Many painters will say that plein air painting isn’t for them. The light changes quickly, and depending on where you are, you may be beset by pesky insects, wind, or sudden weather changes. And then there are the onlookers, friendly people who want to see what you’re up to.

It is those onlookers who propelled Eizenberg recently to take up studio work. During the early days of the pandemic, before vaccines, people tended to come closer to her canvas than she found safe.

“The pandemic kind of forced me inside and tipped my world into the studio,” she says. This represented a big change for her. “At the beginning of my career I was convinced the only work with any value was work done outside. It was kind of a compulsion. I felt I had to be outside twice a day, every day.”

In fact, she notes, one of the painters she admires, Joaquin Sorolla, did both plein air and studio paintings.

For 20 years Eizenberg has attended weekly studio nights run by the Eastham artist Paul Schulenburg, known for his paintings based on subjects at the Chatham Fish Pier. Schulenburg hires a model, and the 10 or so artists attending the session chip in to help cover the cost. “Someone brings dinner,” Eizenberg says. “It’s a wonderful social thing. Paul is very generous.” During the pandemic, the sessions were conducted via Zoom and are still offered that way for remote artists. But Eizenberg prefers to attend in person because she says it is a “rich experience to be there with other artists who speak the same language” of values, shape and temperature. “It’s fun to see how everyone sees color, sees the shapes.”

For 23 years she has also been a member of Twenty-One in Truro – 21 professional female artists. Each year the group hosts a week-long retreat in Truro, a time of sharing cabins and pot luck dinners, talking about books and materials and, of course, painting.

This summer, Eizenberg is also teaching two classes at the Creative Arts Center.

“I enjoy sharing what I have experienced, and what I have come to know about the process of painting,” she says. She believes that everyone should try painting, and that everyone who approaches it with realistic expectations can enjoy it.

Eizenberg is represented by the Addison Art Gallery, 43 South Orleans Rd. in Orleans. For more information visit addisonart.com.

What is the best subject for the award-winning Chatham painter Maryalice Eizenberg?“Anything that attracts my attention,” she said during a telephone interview last week. This could be the angular foundation of a structure, or as she wrote in her artist’s statement, “a pattern of light that makes form, saturates color and creates mood.”In Sylvan Gardens, a favorite spot to paint in West Chatham, she might look for patterns of light and dark, or the “wonderful lacy pattern of dappled light on the ground.” In a marsh or tidal water, she’ll look for rivulets between the sand.“I’m really a tonal painter,” she says. “I’m attracted more by patterns than color.” In her beautiful painting “The Room Where It Happens,” the structure of the greenhouse glass forms a pattern above the bench, pots and flowers in the greenhouse.Eizenberg has been painting since she was very young and has developed a strong reputation as a plein air painter. Yet growing up in Chicopee, everyone in her family was a musician. She played the piano until she was 16. At that point she said, “I want to do visual arts,” she recalls. “They were very supportive,” she said of her family. She went on to study studio art at Clark University.Eizenberg paints every day, and her medium is oil. “I like an opaque medium I can push around. I’m a little bit of a cowboy with my materials,” she adds. “I’m rough. I beat up my brushes.”She recently won second place in oils/acrylics at the 27th annual juried All Cape Art Show for her painting “Organic Farming in Vinales.” The painting came from a trip to Cuba, right before the pandemic shut everything down in 2020.In the morning, she rises at 5:45 a.m., and 15 minutes later is outside walking with Chatham artist Carol Odell. By 9 or 10 a.m. she’s in her studio, painting until lunchtime. After lunch, she returns to the studio, and stops at 4 or 5 p.m. If it’s a nice day, she might have a plan for a plein air painting. She distinguishes between the early morning light, which is rosy, pink-tinged light, and the late afternoon light, which is golden.For about nine years she painted still lifes outdoors in her front yard. Of late, she has been painting historic houses in her neighborhood in Chatham’s Old Village.“I would go early and wait for the sun to go around to the angle where I thought wow, I want to paint that,” she says. “I wait for the moment. It is a moment. You have 15 minutes to set the light in your painting.” For painters who aren’t that fast, this is a challenge.Many painters will say that plein air painting isn’t for them. The light changes quickly, and depending on where you are, you may be beset by pesky insects, wind, or sudden weather changes. And then there are the onlookers, friendly people who want to see what you’re up to.It is those onlookers who propelled Eizenberg recently to take up studio work. During the early days of the pandemic, before vaccines, people tended to come closer to her canvas than she found safe.“The pandemic kind of forced me inside and tipped my world into the studio,” she says. This represented a big change for her. “At the beginning of my career I was convinced the only work with any value was work done outside. It was kind of a compulsion. I felt I had to be outside twice a day, every day.”In fact, she notes, one of the painters she admires, Joaquin Sorolla, did both plein air and studio paintings.For 20 years Eizenberg has attended weekly studio nights run by the Eastham artist Paul Schulenburg, known for his paintings based on subjects at the Chatham Fish Pier. Schulenburg hires a model, and the 10 or so artists attending the session chip in to help cover the cost. “Someone brings dinner,” Eizenberg says. “It’s a wonderful social thing. Paul is very generous.” During the pandemic, the sessions were conducted via Zoom and are still offered that way for remote artists. But Eizenberg prefers to attend in person because she says it is a “rich experience to be there with other artists who speak the same language” of values, shape and temperature. “It’s fun to see how everyone sees color, sees the shapes.”For 23 years she has also been a member of Twenty-One in Truro – 21 professional female artists. Each year the group hosts a week-long retreat in Truro, a time of sharing cabins and pot luck dinners, talking about books and materials and, of course, painting.This summer, Eizenberg is also teaching two classes at the Creative Arts Center.“I enjoy sharing what I have experienced, and what I have come to know about the process of painting,” she says. She believes that everyone should try painting, and that everyone who approaches it with realistic expectations can enjoy it.Eizenberg is represented by the Addison Art Gallery, 43 South Orleans Rd. in Orleans. For more information visit addisonart.com.