Meri's Musings

Before you get started on a painting assignment, you always begin Peggy Zehrings's workshops with a half -day of experimental drawings done with a product called Charkole on butcher paper. The drawings are done blindfolded while listening to music, African tribal pieces or Australian aboriginal tunes or hot jazz. This one happened to be done while listening to an African beat. Some drawings are completed with your non-dominant hand or with charcoal in both hands, perhaps with your hands behind your back like this one. Some drawings rely on tools to stamp on the paper, textured items to place under the paper, graters to powder the charcoal, spritzes of water, or thin strings of paper cement to create a resist. Why? If you're blindfolded or using your "other" hand, you bypass the logical functions in your brain and get a more visceral, authentic mark. Those authentic marks tell a story of who you are at a given point in your life. The five drawings above are one-third o...

I'm back from my painting blitz with five completed paintings, some soulful charcoal drawings, starts on five textured paintings that are probably best qualified as a "learning experience" rather than a new direction, and five new pristine canvases for catching paint when I get inspired. This is Peggy Zehring . She's hamming it up next to one of Kathy Kimball 's gorgeous paintings. I'll show you more of everyone's work over the next few days, but you can see more of Kathy's art by clicking on her name. Peggy facilitates the painting workshop and helps you figure out whether a painting is finished or whether it needs a little more tweaking. She also leads tai chi sessions every morning for those who want to partake. The class was small -- seven people altogether, five of whom were on their second week. People did amazing work. Peggy has a knack for creating a safe place to experiment with abstractions that speak right from your soul.