Diana Elena Chelaru

Beach Dancers, Original Painting

2022

Mid-Summer Dance Cheryl D. McClure acrylic on canvas 40 x 40 x 1.5 in To make my paintings I have come to the realization that I use what I call the ‘Three I’s” of INFLUENCES, INTUITION. and INTENT. Like a lot of artists, McClure’s interest in art developed early in childhood. She recalls, “When I was eight years old, I begged my dad to let me take an after-school painting class. I was shocked when I got there and found out they were painting with paint by number kits. I did not want to do that. I hate coloring inside the lines. So, the teacher allowed me to look for images to use as inspiration. In my memory, I think the first one must have been a reproduction of a Cezanne landscape. I just did what I did all on my own, but I loved mixing colors. Then my dad died, and we moved from Oklahoma to Texas. Sadly, I never really did anything else until I was in my twenties. I then took up painting again all on my own and trying to learn from other artists demonstrating their painting techniques and taking workshops. I have been painting ever since, more than forty years.” She continues, “For many years I only painted with acrylics or mixed media collage. In 2005, I also started painting with encaustic and have gone back to using oil paint again. I suppose acrylic remains my dominant medium. Mixing it up now and then keeps me on my toes and is a great way to learn. Each medium can teach you certain aspects of painting others do not. Each medium has its strengths and weaknesses depending on what you want to express. You can learn from all. I did not love watercolor because it took too much pre-planning. But I learned a lot about negative shapes and composition. I learned a lot with pastel and charcoal about making marks. By working back and forth with different media, I am growing as a painter.” If I used only intent, I would more than likely be disappointed because my imagined intent is always elusive. I get more than I imagined by not setting too many rules about how to get there. Using all of these factors, I can use the knowledge of formal issues that comes from viewing a lot of art and, also, from being in the studio making art all of the time. Using that comprehension of formal design as an aid to intuitively know what is the right relationship of color, mark, space, etc. is the intent. Intention is necessary to direct you to explore the former two. Intention also demands you delve more into your own reasons for making art. 2020 University of Texas, College of Pharmacy Partnership Exhibit, Tyler, TX Beauty of Art and Medicine IV, Rogers Nursing and Health Sciences Building, Tyler Junior College, Tyler, TX Stable, Cerulean Gallery, Dallas, TX 2019 Mississippi Art Colony Fall Travel Show, juror, Stanley Kurth Small Works, Gallery Mack, Seattle, WA 2017 Black Tie (optional), Invitational, Adam Peck Gallery, Provincetown, Mass. Mississippi Art Colony Fall Travel Show, David Hornung, juror, Meridian Museum of Art, Meridian, Miss., Southern Cultural Arts Center, Vicksburg, Miss., Museum of the Mississippi Delta, Greenwood, Miss. You Name It, Cerulean Gallery, Amarillo, Texas 2016 N° 10, Invitational, Adam Peck Gallery, Provincetown, Mass. 2015 One + One, Invitational, A Gallery Art, Provincetown, Mass. 2014 East Texas Regional Artists, Longview Museum of Fine Arts, Longview Texas (4 person) Mississippi Art Colony Fall Travel Show, Jenene Nagy, juror (Mary C. O’Keefe Center for the Arts, Ocean Springs, Miss., Meridian Museum of Art, Meridian, Miss., Wm. Carey College, Hattiesburg, Miss.) 2013 Texas Rugged and Shiny. LuminArte Gallery, Dallas, Texas SEVEN, International Encaustic Conference, Provincetown, Mass., Shawn Hill, juror RED, A Gallery, Provincetown, Mass. Texas Women with Brushes, Jack Meier Gallery, Houston, Texas (2 person) 2012 EncaustiCon 2012, Gallery Nord, San Antonio, TX, Paula Berg Owen, juror WAX: Contemporary Art Works, Pajaro Valley Arts Council, Watsonville, CA Wise Earth: Land and Art, Wise Earth Gallery, Denton, TX, curator, Katy Crocker Continuum 2012, VamArt, Inc., Metuchen, NJ 2011 One Foot of Wax, North Lake College, Irving, TX Mississippi Art Colony Travel Show, Guild Hardy Architects Purchase Award, Sheri Fleck Rieth, juror Hunting Art Prize Finalist *Paintings, DCL, Tyler, TX 2010 Fusion, PFAMily Arts Gallery, Plano, TX Melting Point, Arts Centre of Plano, Plano, TX *Influenced by the Land, Encaustic Center, Richardson, TX Hive, Cole Art Center, Nacogdoches, TX 2009 Uncommon Composites, Cerulean Gallery, Dallas, TX Meltdown, Art Hotel Gallery, Dallas, TX Global Swarming, TX Discovery Gardens Gallery, Dallas, TX Encaustic Methods, Tarrant County Community College, Arlington, TX The Alchemy of Encaustic, Ann Dean Turk Gallery, Kilgore College, Kilgore, TX 2008 Coming Home, Longview Museum of Fine Arts, Longview, TX Some Like It Hot, Bath House Cultural Art Center, Dallas, TX Texas Artists Museum, Port Arthur, TX, Firehouse Gallery, Fort Worth, TX 2007 Landscapes, Longview Museum of Fine Arts, Longview, TX *Little Pieces of Land, Joyous Lake Gallery, Pinetop-Lakeside, AZ Mississippi Art Colony Travel Show, Meridian Art Museum, Meridian, MS East – West, Meeting in the Middle, Hilligoss Galleries, Chicago, IL 2006 Artist Residency, Centre d’Art Contemporain (Cat’Art) Sainte Colombe sur lâ Hers, France Mixed Media Invitational, Longview Museum of Fine Arts, Longview, TX 2005 Dance with the Imagination, 3 artists, West End Gallery, Winston-Salem, NC Southwestern Water Society Signature Members Show, Irving Art Center, Irving, TX, Marcie Inman juror of awards, Honorable Mention 2004 East Texas Regional Exhibit, Longview Museum of Fine Art, Longview, TX; juror, David Band Traveling the Carolinas, National Association Of Women Artists Mississippi Art Colony Travel Show, Spring, Joseph A Smith, juror Artist Career Training 1st National Juried Exhibition, 2nd place Award, jurors, Geoffrey Gorman...

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