STAY TOGETHER

PALMER — Some people socialize over hands of bridge, others chat and stitch with a quilting klatch and some enjoy a good bull session over a friendly game of poker.

Then there are members of the Valley Fine Arts Association, who gather twice a month to shoot the breeze and create art at Mat-Su College.

“We have lots of discussions,” said association president Ilene Paulson. “Everything from cooking to kids, how to price paintings, where to hang our work, what shows are coming up, what psychological problems we’re having that week. It’s everything from religion to solving the world’s problems.”

Though Paulson can’t remember specifically which world problems have been solved while VFAA members gab and paint.

On Monday, the group gathers in an art room at the college, talking up their art while waiting for more members to trickle in. Paulson prepares a large canvas for a presentation she’ll give on painting backgrounds in watercolors. She’s been doing watercolors for about eight years. “But I’ve been painting all my life,” she said.

She’ll show how different techniques can be used to create myriad effects. She masks off part of the canvas and sprinkles salt on the tacky paint.

“It makes for a really cool texture in the artwork,” she said about the salt. “Every time I do a painting, it’s different. I do the masking so that when I paint over it, I can lift (the masking) off and it leaves the white underneath.”

Across the table, fellow VFAA members Petty Compton and Karen Mattson talk about a benefit dance Compton attended recently. They both sift through a stack of photographs that show various scenics taken from around the area. Compton picks one of a large pine tree and reveals something about an unwritten artists’ code: you don’t paint from photos you haven’t taken yourself, unless you have permission from the photographer.

It’s also a time where artists can be brutally honest with each other, giving constructive criticism on their work.

“And you know, it’s not always nice,” Compton said. “Which is good, because you can figure out what you’re doing wrong.”

Art is subjective, added VFAA member Pat Bliss. Sometimes the work you are most proud of, or feel emotionally connected to doesn’t generate broader interest, while the work that the artist doesn’t like personally is what others want to see.

As for the criticism, “If you’re brave enough to ask, be prepared for an honest answer,” Bliss said.

During this week’s gathering, called a Paint-Together, Bliss has another piece of association business to attend to — preparing ballots to elect new officers for the group, which is set to begin its sixth year. With more than 50 members, the VFAA is going strong, as is the rest of the Valley arts community, Mattson said.

“The Valley art community is almost oversaturated with excellent artists,” she said.

Is it possible to have too much talent in an area?

“It is if you’re trying to make money,” Compton quipped. “Seriously, though, this is just like anything else. Iron sharpens iron. Just being around and seeing other artists in the area is very encouraging.”

While the ladies chat and break out their tools for the evening, Big Lake resident Jim Leach quietly prepares an easel to start an Alaska landscape scene in acrylics.

“It’s something to work on,” he said. “I don’t get here very often. Mondays are kind of a difficult day, but I got here today. I’ve been planning it all day.”

Amid the talk of the day and catching up, the artists also manage to create some art as well.

“Recently, I did one here and it’s become one of the most popular painting’s I’ve every done,” Mattson said. “It was an eagle at sunset using a fast technique I use.”

And if you happen to write in a candidate on the VFAA officers ballot, they’ll allow for a spelling error or two, Paulson said.

“Oh yeah, the vote counts,” she said. “We’re not like some people we know. We don’t have lawyers on stand-by.”

Contact Greg Johnson at greg.johnson@frontiersman.com or 352-2269.