NEW YORK (AP) 鈥� During the pandemic, a friend sent a paint-by-numbers set to keep her busy, a gesture that has led to a new path of creative expression for the actor.
Known best for roles in films like 鈥淐asino鈥� and 鈥淏asic Instinct,鈥� Stone has discovered a love of painting and launched a show of her giant canvases at the this week.
Stone got frustrated staying within the lines and colors in that first paint set and started creating her own abstract paintings using acrylic on canvas.
Over the past several years she has carved out studio space in her home where she works both inside and outside and says she loves it because she always needs to be moving.
The show, titled 鈥淲elcome to My Garden鈥� is only her second outing and features 19 of her brightly colored works. Stone, 65 and the mother to three sons, recently spoke with The Associated Press about artistic inspiration, and whether she will act again. Answers have been edited for clarity and brevity.
AP: How did you get inspired to be an artist?
STONE: Museums allowed me to come when they were closed so I went to museums all over the world on Mondays. That was unbelievable. I lived all over the world and worked all over the world, both in my life as an actress and my life as a peace activist and human rights activist. So I鈥檝e seen so much extraordinary art that it鈥檚 almost like I got this sort of side degree in art and art history, which has just been magnificent. And that has been unbelievably inspiring to me.
AP: This passion for painting started with paint-by-numbers and then went quickly to 6-by-8-foot canvases?
STONE: I love the bigs. It just sends me to paint on a big canvas. If I could get bigger ones... (laughs.) I love painting in the big scale and it鈥檚 opened something in me. It鈥檚 moved something inside of me. My first show was called 鈥楽hedding鈥� because I started realizing I was shedding a lot of oppression. A lot of 鈥榊ou have to do it this way. You鈥檙e allowed to be creative, but it has to be like this.鈥�
AP: How do you know when a painting is finished?
STONE: That鈥檚 the biggest discipline. Because in the beginning, you can鈥檛 stop. Because you never feel like, 鈥楾hat鈥檚 it.鈥� When this stuff was being wrapped up for this show, I put it all outside so I can see everything, all together. And then I was running around with this pallet. 鈥橭h! Oh, my gosh! (gestures paint strokes) But then I was like, 鈥榊ou got to cool it.鈥� Because you can destroy everything, and you can just ruin your art if you don鈥檛 stop. You can go past a point of no return.
AP: How do you feel when you鈥檙e painting?
STONE: I feel valuable. Disciplined. I like work. And I like purpose. Art is purposeful. Art is greatly purposeful to me. And we do know that when we teach young people art, there is less recidivism in the prison system, and yet we鈥檙e taking art out of schools.
AP: Do you still want to act?
STONE: I don鈥檛 get much work as an actress. And the system hasn鈥檛 really supported me. I had a massive stroke when I was 41 and I walked away alive. I had about a 1-to-5% chance of survival. Everyone thought I was going to die. So many, many, many bad things happened to me because people presumed that I was dead. My bank account somehow went to zero while I was in the hospital, my money disappeared. I lost custody of my child. My career ended. All these things happened. I have a brain seizure condition that鈥檚 very serious. And I tried to hide that for many years because I wanted to make my way back in the business. And if you have a disability, that doesn鈥檛 really work in my industry. And so I hid in my condition for many, many, many years. And that鈥檚 who I am. I鈥檓 a woman with a brain seizure condition. I have a disability, and painting has helped me not have the anxiety I had. I was just so anxious鈥� that I wasn鈥檛 going to be OK and I couldn鈥檛 be accepted. And I was able to shed all that fear and trauma that I wouldn鈥檛 be accepted, I wouldn鈥檛 be able to work in my community. And you know what? They didn鈥檛 really want me anyway. They weren鈥檛 going to let me back in and I鈥檓 OK with that.
AP: You paint almost every day, what motivates you?
STONE: I love it so much and I love that it brings so much joy to people. It just does. It brings such pleasure. And I love when people come to the studio and they鈥檙e like, 鈥榃ow 鈥� we didn鈥檛 know!鈥�
Brooke Lefferts, The Associated Press
