rd Wen-Shu Chang ( www.wenshuchang.com) admits she wasn’t “into art” until a college
painting elective lit the spark. Now, having
studied at Ontario College of Art & Design and York
University (both in Toronto), Chang says that anatomy
courses for artists were the most helpful, enabling her
to paint portraits and figures with more confidence and
greater accuracy.
Chang based Little Mermaid on a photograph snapped by the subject’s mother. “I was drawn to that expressive look and wanted to convey the depth of emotion and personality.” After a quick sketch, she toned the canvas with a wash of burnt umber mixed with turpentine. Once that dried, she blocked in values. “When painting portraits, I try to limit my palette to five colors to achieve color harmony,” says Chang. “Since the scene is outdoors, the subtle color and value changes were hard to capture.” Chang looks forward to pursuing a master’s degree in fine art.
st The first-place winner from Oak Park, Michi- gan, Jim Merrill remembers his grandmother painting and his mother taking him to the
Detroit Institute of Art when he was very young. “Now I like to ‘see in colors’ whenever I can,” the IT consultant explains, “to find out what combination it takes to reproduce a particular color.”
Merrill ( www.workingcanvas.com) prefers working from a photo. “Plein air painting never works out as well for me, as I seem to spend more time picking the bugs off the canvas.” One of George Vetter’s photographs, Breaker’s Point Sunset, inspired Merrill to paint his landscape On the Lake. “I wanted to capture with oil what George captured with a lens,” he says. Merrill finished this particular painting in one sitting in about four hours. “It’s funny; some paintings come fast and feel good,” he says, “while others eventually are removed from the easel to collect dust.”
ⁿd Currently working on a solo exhibition for Omaha’s Botanical Center, Ken Diaz (www.
kendiazart.com), began to study art only three years ago—on his own—concentrating on different artists and practicing their styles.
The transportation industry worker found the subject for his painting Gasolina in Puerto Rico, his father’s homeland. “I love the contrast of the gas station’s greasy floor and torn posters against the clean, bright colors of the water and palm trees,” says Diaz.
It took him time to master gouache and achieve the look he wanted. “I was looking to balance bright splashes of color with areas of detail,” Diaz explains. He hoped to incorporate a “scratchy,” transparent look in areas, visible brushstrokes throughout, and untouched, white canvas somewhere in the composition. “I want my paintings to display a sense of energy,” he explains, “and for the image to look as if it’s seeping slowly from off the canvas.”
rd Last year Arlene Sherer happened upon a stand of sunflowers while she was driving in
the countryside 75 miles north of Seattle. She
immediately pulled over and got out her camera. “It was
late afternoon and the light was absolutely gorgeous,”
Sherer says. She was understandably pleased with the
resulting painting, Skagit Valley Summer—amazingly
only the fourth piece she’s painted. “I was especially
surprised by the glow of the curled leaf in sunlight,” the
former CFO/business owner explains. “It turned out far
better than I ever imagined!”
It actually wasn’t until her retirement that Arlene Sherer began reading art books and studying DVDs; she also took workshops with Elizabeth Kincaid and Arleta Pech. “Their glazing technique with transparent watercolors is so beautiful,” she says. The enthusiastic artist plans on continuing to paint every day: “I’ve recently become interested in Jane Jones’s oil work,” she says, “so I hope to incorporate oils into my repertoire as well.”
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