April 21014 meeting report

Lana Grow Makes the Magic Happen!

Our own Lana Grow, nationally known and the only Minnesota woman with AWS (American Watercolor Society), made the magic happen in her April 7 demo. She began with a slide show that followed her journey from early representational painting, portraits, sumie brush painting, and traditional watercolor into her more recent mixed media approach to abstract and semi-abstract painting.

She showed how she stains tissue paper with acrylic paint to create interesting colors and textures for her collages. She also demonstrated how she creates “crystalline” papers using gesso and paints for unique color combinations and designs. These papers are collaged onto Strathmore illustration board. She strives to entreat the viewer and loves to incorporate something “quirky” in each painting.

Lana punctuated her demo with many words of advice for artists including:

–Paint for yourself because the you in there is what they want.
–Think of the market.
–Invite the viewer of an abstract piece with a catchy title.

She shared her design hints in a poster (photo right).