Art in the Albemarle Area -- by Talmage Dunn

Whether you are aware of it or not, we live in an “art rich” area. When I say “art rich,” I am alluding to the many art groups we have within our region, the beautiful subjects that abound for artists to paint, photograph, sculpt, and craft. We have historic sites, gardens, beaches, parks, towns, buildings,swamps, and wildlife. Our area offers the budding artist plenty of material to use to create.

Within many of our counties there are various art groups. I will mention just a few in this article but I will continue to introduce other groups in the future. There is the Arts of the Albemarle, Currituck Arts, The Perquimans Art League & Ctr., and several studios in the area.

There are several places to go and observe artists while they create, The Friday Art Walk in Elizabeth City, S.P.L.A.S.H., and our local museums. There are also several studios where you can go to learn painting, sculpting, carving, and crafting. Do not forget your local senior centers for learning to do various art forms.

I am an artist. I paint predominately in watercolor and acrylics. I have no real formal training in art other than a desire to get better at the art form I have chosen to work within. I am writing this column to try and introduce our readers to try and find that artist that lives within. We all have a story to tell is an old expression, but within each of us also lies a way to tell that story. Perhaps painting can be an outlet and an opportunity to tell your story.

I will attempt to introduce some various methods of painting in future articles and some works in progress paintings that our readers can follow along to see how some of my paintings were developed.

I hope you will get interested in what I write about and try the different medias on your own. There are a few basic things you will need to do to get started.

- A canvas... really something you can put the paint on... I have painted on paper bags, colored paper, watercolor paper, envelopes, wallpaper, and true painting canvas, just find something to get started and have fun.
• Paint... a beginners set of watercolors or acrylics will start you off nicely
• Brushes... you really can get started with three basic brushes, a liner brush, a ¼ inch flat brush, and a 1 ¼ inch flat brush.
• Desire.... a desire to create

Painting can be fun and stress relieving. It is an opportunity to let your creative talents flow. Anyone can learn to paint. The most important step to starting is to paint what you know and like. I love to fish, hunt, and camp. So many of my paintings center around those particular themes. I said most, sometimes , a muse will hit me and I will paint some different subjects. I have attached a painting of one of my favorite subjects... bird hunting. This particular painting is called Rising in the Mist, two pheasants rising in the early morning mist.

While this is not a column to sell my artwork. I will donate any money for this painting to one of our area charities. $150.00 is the value placed on this painting. Contact our editorial staff and they will see that the money goes to the charity selected. It could be a church or other needy organization within our area.