Student Spotlight - Women who Art

This weeks spotlight shines on another woman who is new to our Ladies Morning Art classes ~ Celeste McLean.  Celeste, as she tells it, wanted to focus on art in high school but her art teacher told her, in a round-about way, that she might want to put her energies elsewhere.  Taking this advice to heart she became a Chiropractic doctor.  Thankfully, putting that teachers advice to rest, she has kept up with the creative and artistic side of her brain.

The Yoga Place

For her first class Celeste brought an image of one of her favorite spots in Hawaii. This is the place she goes to meditate and practice yoga whenever she is vacationing there.

As one can see from these images, her style is very expressionistic.  She paints not to depict objective reality but rather the subjective emotions and responses she feels when visiting what she calls her special place

Her goals here were not to reproduce the impression suggested by the natural landscape, but to impose her own feelings and sensibility onto it.

Celeste aptly expresses her memories of this place by distorting and exaggerating the natural elements and through her bold use of color and brush strokes.

Celeste and her finished painting - the colors of which are much more vivid in person.  A true testament to the fact that you should sometimes follow your passion and not necessarily the advice given to you by others.  Well done Celeste!!