Artist: Carol Courtney

Medium: Alcohol Sak

Size: 14x20/Framed

Price: NFS

Artist Instagram: @carol_ec

Artist Statement:

The use of non-traditional tools to investigate and experiment with the properties of alcohol ink, itself an alternative material, brought a new focus to painting. Colors are bold and vibrant. The ink creates its own hard lines and boundaries. The addition of extra alcohol elicits unpredictable, emergent patterns which create their own challenges for the artist.

One cannot predict how the moisture in the air, the temperature, or the ink's flow on different working surfaces (such as synthetic propylene paper, clay board, or ceramic tile) will influence the flow of alcohol ink. The intensity of the mark and its layering of color develops from the interaction of alcohol ink with the material surface, unlike the use of oil or acrylic paint. Further, I experiment with unconventional tools to guide the alcohol inks, including sponges, q-tips, credit card edges, and air forced through various diameter straws.

That which inspires my subject matter is no less than what surrounds me - the living environment and my interactions with it. The subject matter is what I smell, see, hear, and breathe in from an ever-changing and unpredictable natural world. The painting is what I breathe out.

I deconstruct a subject into its simplest form and create sensations. Experiments with bold and vibrant hues, organic mark-making with an unconventional use of alternative tools on different surfaces, and the use of additive and subtractive techniques generate different levels of abstraction that, in turn, lead to the essence of how I experience and associate sensations of nature. The paintings are a phenomenology of the experiences. I invite the viewer to experience their own primal sensations, perceptions, and musings in the natural world as they enter the paintings.

Artist Biography:

I began my professional pursuit in art in 1974 at the University of New Haven, completing an AS in Commercial Art in 1978. After a few decades working outside of my passion, I was finally able to resume my studies. While working in administration at the University of Hartford, I was championed by both professors and peers to complete my BFA, which I earned in Painting (2020). My advisor Cat Balco, Professor of Painting, was fascinated with my work in alcohol ink and encouraged me to use this medium in my senior thesis. I chose subjects that are organic and apply the unpredictability of this medium to obtain its unique results. In 2021, I retired to fulfill my lifelong goal of becoming a full time artist.

Recent shows: Windsor Art Center Members show, 2020, 2021, 2022

Redux 2020 & 2021 University of Hartford Alumni show, W. Hartford, CT. 3/2022

Spectrum Gallery, Centerbrook, CT. 5/2022-7/2022

Lost Acres Vineyard, Granby, Ct. 6/2022-7/2022

Women Artists Collective, Windsor Art Center, Windsor, CT. 12/2022-1/24/2023

Women Artists Collective, Mandell Jewish Community Ctr. West Hartford, Ct

2/19/23-3/20/2023

Solo show, Worthington Vineyard & Winery, Somers, CT. 1/9/2023-3/31/23