ART INSIGHTS: What's your medium?

What’s your medium?

No, no, no! This isn’t about how you like your steak, what size shirts you wear or preference in psychics.

When visual arts related it’s, of course, what material or substance an artist uses to make his/her work. If more than one is used it’s called a work of multi-media.

Most art association members use a type of paint. Me, I’m a die-hard acrylics user. It will never have the venerability of oils. It’s plastic! If it were clothing it’d be the polyester to wool. It’s great for teaching, as it dries quickly and washes with soap and water. All have advantages.

I have asked members, who use other stuff, “What’s your medium?” Julia Komsky prefers the pure pigments of pastels. When a desired pastel painting was sold out from under her years ago, words jumped out of her mouth, “If you do not want to sell it to me, I will make it myself!” After countless workshops and lessons, her husband jokes that it would have been cheaper to have bought that expensive piece many years ago. She developed her skills, and pastel paints landscapes to share what touches her heart. Her unique vision of the beauty around her incorporates mood, movement and the delight of colors. Julia has won several awards, including an Art on the Green juried show ’21 Best of Show.

Julia immigrated from Minsk, Belarus, in 1989. She spent 30 years in Chicago. Now retired in Hayden, she makes them, beautifully, herself.

Collage derives from a French word, "coller," meaning to glue things together. Yes … multi-media. Incorporating her reading, sewing, quilting and painting, Lorna Barrowman loves making them.

At the onset, she glues a random pattern of paper pieces to the background. She chooses a subject to paint over this base, using a translucent paint, sold by Golden, so items continue to show through. "Charlie Chaplin" is an early piece. He wears a hat of black felt. Cotton forms his tie and jacket. With black yarn, his hair and eyebrows grew. With her fine Scottish accent, Lorna states, “I have a wall full of inspiring characters, from Native Americans, an aviator, Frieda Kahlo, an Indian lady in a sari and the explorer Vasco de Gama. I’m hooked on people!”

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Diane Barron is the secretary for the Coeur d'Alene Art Association and the 2023 artist of the year.

    Lorna Barrowman had fun constructing her "Charlie Chaplin" collage.