Linda Strauss-Lewis
This fourth article in the PC Art Club’s “Acrylic Painting Versatility” series highlights five of the artists in our summer exhibition. These and many other pieces are all showcased in two windows in the Creative Arts Center. Stop in to visit. The acrylic exhibit will be on display through the end of September.
Cheryl Tiffany’s “poured acrylic”, Masked Beauty, is a wonderful representation of a relatively new use of acrylic paints called a “dirty cup pour”. She placed paint in a plastic cup, which included two mystery ingredients, to facilitate the pouring. She’s become so successful at this that she’s now teaching the medium here at PebbleCreek. Amazingly, Cheryl began painting only six months ago! She’d lamented that she couldn’t paint, and then found “pours” on YouTube. She’s been experimenting with this dynamic, free-spirited medium ever since. Masked Beauty is just one of her brilliant outpourings! FYI: she used old, cheap craft paints from her 20-year old stash!
Cross Roads, Abstract is done by a PC Art Club shining star Debby Bolton. She can do anything! Her creativity is boundless! Debby says of Cross Roads, “this is one of my fastest paintings ever. My four-inch paint roller needed cleaning. Instead, I spread its color onto a canvas. ‘Hmmm, promising,’ I thought. So, I added another color to the roller, then another, then another, and Cross Roads was the result. I liked it so much that I protected it with a resin to give it a glossy finish. Resin, to the uninitiated, is a multi-layered, time-intensive, very durable top coat; the hardest part of this entire acrylic abstract!”
Judy Hale’s Burro is a whimsical departure from her usual themes. Her color palette remained the same, however. One can always recognize a “Judy Hale” – full of zesty aquamarines, warm corals, soft purples and vibrant mint greens. She’s one of the Art Club’s favorite teachers. Want to learn acrylic painting? Take a Judy Hale class!
Familiar Flamingos, by Dee Smart, reflects both deliciousness and natural tranquility. It’s composed of several acrylic pours, with a gaggle of realistic flamingos painted in the foreground. This super-original artist experiments continually, and, luckily, she then introduces the rest of us to her newest “it” adventure!
The Hidden Heart, by Curtis Patchin, is an example of a medium being newly embraced by the PC Art Club. This heart-shaped, spike-less, prickly pear cactus produces brilliant, sun-gold blooms which you can enjoy on our PC golf courses. If you think Curtis’ airbrush masterpiece looks almost holographic, you’re right. He says he accomplishes this by combining a “ground aluminum background with a highly translucent ‘candy dye’, and then painstakingly sprays on hundreds of layers of acrylic paint to create the foreground image. Want to learn airbrush? Curtis teaches it here at PebbleCreek.
Stop by the Creative Arts Center to see our lively exhibit of acrylic art, including Curtis’ dazzling piece that shows yet another way acrylic paint is adding to our art community’s ever-expanding repertoire.