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Art has been a part of Kay Reinke’s life since she began painting at the age of 12, when she began studying at The Houston Museum of Fine Art and the Texas Art Institute. She is a member of several professional organizations and has received many honors, both regional and national, for her work.

 

Many of her paintings can be described as being in the genre "abstract realism," that is, taking a real object or scene and abstracting it. This allows for the viewer to put him or herself in the scene in a way that doesn’t restrict the imagery to a single location or time. She wants her paintings to suggest experiences and feelings in a way that sparks viewers’ imaginations, draws them into the paintings and makes them want to stay. A few examples of her work are shown here. The one at the left was in the Art Center Membership exhibit last year. To see more examples of her work, mostly oils, and more about her career, visit her web site at www.kayreinkeart.com.

 

This month, she will give us a demo of encaustics, painting with colored wax, an example of which is at the right. By coincidence, Karen Groman brought an example to our last meeting, an abstract using crayons. Kay will mix oil paints with wax and make an impressionistic painting. Don't miss it. We will meet at 1:30 for refreshments and conversation. The meeting will begin at 2, and the demo shortly thereafter. We will meet at the Central Presbyterian Church, 9191 Woodway Drive. Traveling out of town on Hwy 84, take the Hewitt Dr/Estates Drive exit. Stay on the service road (Woodway Drive) past Walgreens and a bank. The next building is the church. Bring a work for Show and Tell, and bring friends.

Kay Reinke, an artist who has moved from New Braunfels to Waco learned to work with encaustic from two workshops she attended taught by Lily Pell. She brought two beautiful forest scenes and some smaller works to show us. She explained that encaustic means “to burn in” by adding pigment and resin to beeswax. It is an ancient art discovered by the Greeks, and revived through the centuries by Egyptian and Byzantine artists, and in later centuries by Diego Rivera and Jasper Johns. It is essentially painting with wax.  

The supplies Kay used were Dorland's Wax Medium mixed with standard oil paints. (She especially likes Gamlin transparent earth orange paint.) A cold wax medium which is not heated can be used, but she prefers the hot wax method. All these can be bought at or ordered on line from Jerry's Artorama in Austin. Also needed is a heat gun with an accessory package to achieve different effects (available at Harbor Freight) and a mini-craft iron (available at JoAnn's). Kay had many templates which she picked up wherever she found one that would produce interesting effects. She also used a palette knife and cheap bristle brushes which can be cleaned with mineral spirits. An encaustic can be produced on any material which has a hard surface.  

Kay began her demonstration by putting a blob of wax medium on a paper palette. She squeezed oil paint on the paper, using transparent earth orange, green, bright orange, and purple. She mixed each color with the wax and applied it to a piece of masonite. It looks dull until heated. She stressed the importance of painting one layer at a time and heating it, before applying and heating a second layer. She painted the first layer with several colors, spreading the paint with her palette knife. She then heated the layer with the heat gun a few seconds until the paint was shiny, pushing the paint around with the heat gun to achieve the desired effect. She used the mini-craft iron to touch up spots. She also showed how to spread the medium around with a paint brush. She then encouraged those present to practice using her materials.  

We thank Kay for a very nice introduction to a medium which was unfamiliar to most of those present. We also thank those who brought refreshments and those who brought art for Show and Tell, some of which is shown below.

SHOW AND TELL

                   

  Nancy Cagle          Bill Franklin            Judy Franklin        Charleen Isbell     Christine Niekamp

Please bring up to three 2-D artworks to the foyer of the Ball Performing Arts Center at MCC between 2:30 and 3:30 on Monday, March 18. Bring only works that have not been exhibited there in the past. Any subject , medium or style is welcome, but for the safety of the art, we ask that the framed size be 16x20 or larger. It should also have a hanging wire. Please direct any questions to the Exhibit Chair, Frank Gutierrez, at Franksart2@yahoo.com or 666-5030.

Come see the exhibit at MCC in the foyer of the Ball Performing Arts Center, preferably in the evening when it shows up best. Also, many evenings you can catch a performance as well. The performances are listed below the exhibit photos. All are excellent and are free and open to the public without reservations, except Sorcerer and Eurydice, and they are inexpensive ($10 adults, $8 seniors). For tickets call 299-8200.

 

                                                                                                   Bill Franklin

 

                                                                                            Linda Green

 

                                                                      Nancy Cagle

 

                                                                                       Christine Niekamp

 

                                                                                                                                     Judy Franklin

 

               Frank Gutierrez

 

                                                                                                  Elisabeth Montgomery

 

Performances during the Exhibit, all at 7:30 p.m. unless otherwise noted:

April 4-6 Sorcerer (opera)

April 18-20 Eurydice (Drama), 2 p.m. matinee on the 20th

April 22 Rock Ensembles Concert

April 25 Wind Ensemble Concert

April 29 Chorale Concert

May 2 Spotlight Concert (show tunes)

May 6 Waco Jazz Orchestra Concert

May 7 Waco Community Band Concert