she paints; she is a painter

The original impetus for this blog was to review chronologically the growth of my artistic efforts. For those of you who actually read this stuff, other than my family members, you will have noticed that I diverged to the present in the last few posts, and then I didn’t write at all since last December.  NOW, it’s back to the story and 2004!

Up to this point I had only worked in watercolors, and some oils (back in the day).  My friends had been defecting to the acrylic classes and achieving wonderful results. Why wonderful? Because the colors are intense and dry quickly. They are applied to canvases which are relatively light and don’t necessarily require framing. The best feature is that they can easily be reworked!! Mistakes or changes in opinion can be painted over and over with no guilt or negative result  involved!

Another aspect of acrylic paints to bear in mind with respect to watercolors is the rendering of white or light. With watercolor one has to work in a negative way, being aware of leaving the white of the paper untouched to achieve highlights. Accordingly, one works from light to dark, always aware of preserving the light in the painting. With acrylics, white or highlights, are just added on toward the end of a composition. No problem!!

At this time the acrylics class was taught at the AGO (Art Gallery of Ontario) by Ewa Stryjnik. (You might have already read about her in my posts about Project: Art.) She was an instructor with a significant following because of her ability to lead each person toward a personal expression. One of the classic learning methods in this medium is to paint from a photograph. This allows one to practice reproducing an image just to develop the skill of manipulating the medium. The picture above is one I took on a trip to Peggy’s Cove, Nova Scotia, when my daughter enrolled in King’s College in Halifax. This resulted in my first acrylic painting, the most faithfully realistic, and my first acrylic painting to be sold!

You might ask how did this get sold? That’s a very good question! Ewa was the only instructor at the AGO who devised a way for her students to have a showing, something that the Gallery School itself shamefully never supported!! The event was held in a small OCAD gallery on Dundas Street. Such a thrill for everyone, including the two artists below! Here’s the Show Card!