What a great title for today’s challenging times – it truly describes the images our artists have spent their time producing this last winter.
Focusing on their environment, our animals, our birds, or the space we call home is a passion often stirred into a lively picture.
Each medium has its own beauty when tackled by a master artist.
Watercolor painting dances with light as the paper becomes the light in the image.
Acrylic dries quickly and the artist can thin the paint to work like watercolor, or use full body acrylics producing a thick impasto surface. This can be worked with a palette knife or a brush, and even with your fingers.
Oils produce a special sheen not achieved by other mediums. The old masters used oils and often mixed and ground pigments of their own formulas. Today, we have it much easier. Tubes can be purchased almost everywhere.
Pastels are the oldest medium on earth – some still visible in caves where ancient peoples captured the spirit of the animals that frequented their world. Today’s pastels are a vast improvement and available in every color of the rainbow. One has to have patience to use pastels as layers of color are tweaked to the perfect match to nature as the artist interprets it.
Some artists think color is king – producing beauty, displaying mood, using opposites on the color wheel to emphasize and enhance the image. Others find value to be king – light against dark is the primary way to achieve best results.
One other way to enhance an image is its placement in the picture plane. The centre of interest had to draw the eye, so it is prominently placed. The ancient artists knew this secret – they used line, color and value to make a painting sing. Many in the ancient art community were true to the times in which they lived – painting religious scenes to gild the churches and display the saints and profits to advantage.
Art is often a reflection of the times in which we live.
Eileen Fong’s Light and Shadow of a forest is an acrylic with light shining through a forest glade. Our British Columbia landscape is the perfect backdrop for everyone who enjoys the trees we grow so well.
If you have a yen to paint, why not join the South Delta Artists’ Guild?
The Guild is located at 1710 56th street in Tsawwassen. The gallery is open from noon to 4 p.m. Friday to Sunday.
Our friendly artists will be happy to answer questions about our membership and our virtual lessons which you can take from home. Visitors are asked to social distance and follow the COVID-19 protocols.
If you cannot visit in person, visit: www.southdeltaartistsguild.com, which is a great way to welcome a weekend, so plan to visit soon. Our current show runs throughout April.
