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This home is where the art is

Peter Stilton chooses to exercise a certain je ne sais quoi in Tampa, even though Paris is close to his heart.

By JACKIE RIPLEY
Published September 22, 2006

LAKE MAGDALENE

The sophistication of Paris may have stolen Peter Stilton's heart. But it was the lemon-colored light in Tampa that captured the artist's eye.

"The light in Paris is this moisture-laden gray stuff from the Atlantic," said Stilton, the first American to have a one-man show at the Sorbonne. "It just doesn't work."

But the light in Tampa, that yellow-colored illumination that brightens every nook and cranny of his Lake Magdalene home studio, now that's a different story.

"There's something in the light here that's so nice," said Stilton, squinting his eyes slightly. "It's a lemony light."

And so it was that Stilton and his wife, Jill, along with the couple's two children, two Great Danes and hundreds of paintings, came to dwell in Tampa.

"Paris is a part of me," said Stilton, who was born in upstate New York and started teaching at colleges and universities around the country in the late 1960s before making Paris his second home. "You can be in love with something but it might not be what you need."

Tampa, where Jill Stilton had spent much of her youth, seemed a better fit. In fact, part of the reason the couple moved here was so Jill could help her brother resurrect the family chocolate business. After the business closed she turned her attention to Peter's work, handling the commercial side of his art business.

The Stiltons, now 25 years here, have put down roots, literally. They have turned the back yard of their otherwise ordinary home in the Cedarwood neighborhood into an amazing expanse of color and statuary. Modeled on the Elizabethan Gardens near the Outer Banks of North Carolina and the Luxembourg garden in Paris, the garden is accented with antique life-sized limestone statues and elegant boxwood plantings. The rest is a revival of an 18th century backyard landscape where Stilton can commune with his muse through this bit of Gallic-inspired flora and fauna.

"We've out-Frenched the French," said Stilton, who has a full view of the garden from his studio.

It's here, working in abstract impressionism and mixed media, that Stilton incorporates poetry, his other passion, into his paintings. When that happens, as in his well-known "chair" paintings, the image is apt to find its way onto the canvas.

The chairs, Stilton explains, are really stand-ins for people and his way of introducing the human into the abstract world of his paintings.

In this environment, Stilton has enjoyed some of his greatest productivity, working in the 1990s as he had never worked before.

"Ideas are like planes coming into the airport, and when you are going at a rapid rate you can land more planes than you could before," he said. His paintings and sculptures are in private and corporate collections all over the world, from Tel Aviv to Stockholm, including the Saudi royal family's summer palace. One also hangs in the Tampa mayor's office and convention center, another in the office of the mayor of Paris.

Stilton has slowed his output over the past few years, for two good reasons: Philip, 4, and Matthew, 5.

"I want to give them 100 percent," Stilton said. It is not unusual to find the artist at work with one or both boys at his elbow vying for attention. And while he admits that fathering children is a good bit more challenging than being "father" to two Great Danes, it's a role he gladly plays.

"My depth is so much deeper," he said of his work. "I'm more animated to my very foundation, very core. It was a massive step forward."

The influence that Philip and Matthew have exerted appeals to Chris Mori, a musician in Westchase who has several Peter Stiltons in her home and studio.

"His work is very musical and so uplifting," Mori said. "For me they're so creative. I love the colors but there's something else, the peace. That's wonderful."

Susan Baisden, owner of Baisden Gallery in South Tampa, also was drawn in by Stilton's imagery and use of bold colors.

"He is so enthusiastic about his painting. Each has a very detailed story," Baisden said. "I'm just blown away by how much energy goes into his paintings."

Such energy continues to fuel Stilton. "Even my more somber colors feel joyous," he said. "It's a spiritual joy because the kids have been my focus."

Jackie Ripley can be reached at ripley@sptimes.com or 813 269-5308.

Origin of an artist

Q How long have you been painting?

A Since I was 5. My first teacher was 90 and an art professor.

Q Did she start you on the road to painting?

A No. I never took painting classes. A high school teacher said it was terrible and my father said the first 100 paintings are throwaways. I decided it was too precious to be trespassed on.

Q What part does Jill play in your work?

A She really has been my muse. Before the kids, when I worked on a piece, we'd talk about it throughout the entire process.

Q How often do you travel to other climes for inspiration?

A We go to Paris and to Maine three or four times a year. We also go to my family farm in New York.

Q Do you ever long for big-city life?

A Rather in New York or Paris, we treat wherever we are like a little town.

Q Why does poetry have such an appeal for you?

A Visual images are locked in. But words have so many meanings.

Q So for you?

A Spoken word is an integral part of painting.

To view Stilton's paintings go to www.peterstilton.com.

[Last modified September 21, 2006, 07:28:15]