Kathy McMahon creating different values of grey along with deepest blacks that will be used for her future project involving geometric forms.
Francesca Romano
I am excited to say that our membership is growing! As a result of our recent press releases, we are attracting new members who have varying interests and skills.
On March 15, Kathy McMahon did a short demonstration on how she prepares her Yupo paper for an acrylic pour.
To quote Kathy, “Although I’ve spent the last few years with the joys of pouring and the many applications it lends itself to, I began to look for something more—ex. borders and shapes.
“With that in mind, I began to focus on the simplicity of geometric shapes cut from previous pours. This will require finessing, perhaps adding lines in the background, solid and/or complimentary backgrounds, in a larger sense, building composition and color harmony. As my baby steps progress, I’ll be happy to share this new direction—good, bad, or muddled. Wish me luck and I look forward to seeing you and learning about your own artistic challenges.”
In addition, we watched Pat Heberling create an oil and cold wax medium painting. Pat describes this method of painting, “it is like pushing colored Crisco around the rigid support with a squeeze! Cold wax is a creamy paste that is mixed with oil paint on the palette.
“It is made of beeswax, mineral solvents, and resins. It does not need to be heated because it dries faster than traditional oil paints, it can be layered with other colors, manipulated, and makes ‘marks’ using all kinds of fun tools and other media.
“Generally, most oil/cold wax paintings are abstract. Paint and cold wax are mixed in about a 50/50 ratio. Then the fun begins. Many artists use a silicone bowl scraper to move and blend the paint, palette knives, and other household items to embellish, gouge, scratch, and make numerous marks. Sometimes removing the upper layer of paint will reveal the underlying color giving the work more dimension. Collage, stencils, and monoprints are also used.
“Once the painting has completely dried, it is buffed with cold wax to produce a matte finish.” Ref: Wabi-Sabi Painting with Cold Wax by Serena Barton.
We always welcome new members.