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Final feature: Mercer artist's work featured in last Second Sunday Select

August 10, 2009|JENNIFER BRUMMETT

For its final Second Sunday Select before it closes its doors at the end of August, The Speckled Egg Gallery will feature the work of Mercer County artist Jacquie Woodward. It will be her first professional presentation of her artwork. Her landscapes, ranging from realistic to soft abstract in style, are painted in various mediums on a variety of surfaces.

Woodward's acrylic paintings are sometimes combined with ink or collage and include surfaces of masonite, clayboard and paper.

For her watercolor landscapes, she often uses a manmade Yupo paper instead of natural paper. Rather than absorbing the paint quickly as natural paper does, Yupo allows the paint to lie on the surface as it dries, thus enabling the artist to manipulate the image to a desired effect before the paint set permanently.

"We are pleased to introduce the artwork of Mercer County resident Jacquie Woodward to the public," said The Speckled Egg Gallery owner Wilma Brown. "Because she experiments in so many mediums and styles, her landscapes appeal to an expanse of taste and interest.

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"I am especially intrigued by her abstract watercolor landscapes on Yupo paper because the colors flow harmoniously across the surface without completely blending. My favorite pieces by Jacquie are her collages, which burst with vibrant color, a testament to her own personal resilience."

Woodward said two blessings have strengthened her painting.

"First, I recently recovered from intricate cancer surgery literally by the grace of God. That experience has taught me a lot about trust and hope, which translates into an unrestricted painting approach where I begin paintings with no preconceived notion of the subject and only a simple composition in mind," she explained. "I then trust the painting to develop on its own and find the subject without giving the viewer all the pieces of information. The viewer is, then, a participant in the art.

"Also, during my recovery, I have become more sensitive to color and my paintings are becoming more and more vibrantly colored."

The second blessing for Woodward is children.

"Secondly, I am blessed to spend a lot of time painting with children - my grandchildren and neighbor children. Sometimes we even work on the same paintings together at the same times which, again, teaches trust and hope. Children are wonderful paintings partners because they free your imagination and have amazing spontaneous ideas," she explained. "There is no risk or worry - the process is pure art. And, again, color is never boring when you are painting with children.

"I have no doubt that my cancer recovery has been truly augmented by both of these blessings. Healing and art have great synergy."

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