EdieAbnetEdie Abnet Still Going Strong After 45 Years of Painting

abnet10Starting out 45 years ago with a set of Prang watercolors, Edie Abnet has come a long way. Inspired by local artist Judy Blain and national workshop teacher Zoltan Szabo in her early years, Edie continues to explore mixed media today.

Though she loves the serendipity of watercolor as it pools and mingles, she also uses water soluble crayons, pastels and acrylics.As she sets up a drawing, she is never sure where it will go but design and subject matter are key.

Most of the thinking comes after she puts down her first wash of color. She usually starts several paintings at the same time, with a very wet wash of bright color going back and forth as the paintings dry.

abnet12She prefers hot press paper because it allows the colors to mix. Winsor Newton paints have been her choice over the years, though she now enjoys the luminosity of the Daniel Smith duochrome line.

Her “anchor colors” are cerulean blue and raw umber which she considers “the palette of Minnesota.”

Iabnet15n her February 21 demo, Edie showed her approach to two subjects: horses and crows. Though she has a phobia for horseback riding, she loves painting horses and considers them “landscape.” She began by brushing in a wash of intense color over her drawing.

abnet12After letting that layer dry she painted heavy dark areas with sedimentary colors combining opacity with translucency. Edie has always been fascinated by birds, especially crows. She began her crows painting by applying heavy graphite to the drawing and then smudging her lines, working between foreground and background as she added color and design. CXabnet16“Wallowing in paint,” Edie Abnet brushes, scrapes, and smudges her way to a completed design, never growing bored.

She has learned that sometimes the public must accept that there are aspects of her work that they don’t understand. “Those are the pieces that I do for myself.”