Working with "masa" paper
Recently, she worked with "masa" paper, which gives a textured feeling to paintings. For a piece she created for "In the Beginning," which is on exhibit at Centenary United Methodist Church Christian Life Center, she put her medium over parts of the paper so color would not be absorbed. That gives it a "water effect" she says.
"I have two large paintings out there with the effect of water," McGuire notes.
McGuire, a longtime member of Wilderness Trace Art League and Gathering Artists, is drawn to landscapes. McGuire also is a member of the Kentucky Watercolor Society.
"I've done some portrait work and still lifes. I've done people - some life drawing. But somehow or other I'm drawn to (landscapes). Personal expression is one of the high points of being a visual artist, McGuire says.
"The visual world is always important and I think I can express myself better that way rather than verbally," she notes. That's the hard part of being an artist, too, she says.
"Being able to express what's inside of you," McGuire explains. "Oftentimes, you have an idea and it doesn't come out the way you want it to."
She'd like to do more monotype printing, she says, and experiment with it. She's also thinking about submitting her work to a juried show that is held in the fall in Louisville.
Library exhibit has a trees theme
Several of the paintings in the library exhibit, which has a trees theme, do not have glass or plexiglass over them, McGuire says.
"They're done on watercolor canvas," she explains. "After you do the painting, you have to spray it with acrylic spray to make it permanent, and you can frame it without glass."
"Mountain Retreat" came directly from a sketch McGuire made. "Autumn Trees" once was a larger painting, but the artist decided it looked better "cut off."
"The composition is better this way," she says. "This happens with artists."
"Winter Tree" is a watercolor and ink work that uses the masa paper, which is an Asian-influenced, machine-made paper that today is made of sulfite pulp, primarily. She used sumi-e ink. "Sumi-e" means "black ink painting" and is a Japanese art form characterized by its simplicity.
"The paper is quite thin. When it's wet and you crinkle it, the sumi-e ink spreads. ... When the ink dries, you glue it to watercolor paper or illustration board. Illustration board is firmer."
McGuire also is donating a painting to the Danville/Boyle County Arts Commission for its ArtFull raffle, which is set for May 13. The artist has participated in the arts commission's previous Gallery Hops and is planning on exhibiting at the June 10 Gallery Hop, she says.
