Demonstrator Robert Bolster

At our February meeting oil painter Robert Bolster provided a multi-media presentation of his journey as an artist -- from his grade school drawings to his career as an illustrator and finally to his emergence as a fine art painter. It was a large Valentine's Day crowd of more than 40 attendees. Mr. Bolster showed photos of his work using Apple Pages software and then switched to a live demonstration of how he paints. He begins with a photograph as a reference, in this case a 20x24 photo of two pears. He always uses his own photographs, refines them with Photoshop and then prints them full-size using an Epson 2200 printer. He then places the finished photo on a shelf he has attached to his easel and paints on a canvas the same size as his photo. (See the top photo.) He tends to paint thinly on canvas he stretches himself and he uses Liquin to help extend the color and accelerate the drying process. Over recent years he developed a technique of dividing a large canvas into a series of squares -- sometimes up to 144 -- and attempts to paint six different squares per day when working in this manner. He feels this helps him be more productive as a professional artist. During his 90 minute demonstration he worked quickly painting a beautiful still-life which he donated for our raffle. Margaret Lachut was our happy winner, as were the folks who attended this wonderful presentation.