Feature Artist ~ Cindy Kovack ~ Part 2

Altered Pages is honored to share the

TALENTED

CINDY KOVACK

Part 2

If you missed Part 1 - Click HERE!

We asked Cindy Kovack a few questions to help you get to know her!  Plus we are sharing some of her face painting....  just in time for Halloween!

    

Do you find the Eastern US or the Western US more inspirational to your art?

I’ve resided in many states, including California, Florida, New Jersey, Penna, Ohio and Arizona.  Inspiration for me comes from where I reside, no matter where that is.  
I find the southwest very inspirational.  I’ll never forget driving into Phoenix and seeing the open sky, star filled and spacious. It was if someone had placed a large bowl on top of the city. The sunny days can’t be beat and I find I can easily create, inside and out, 365 days a year. I use the hot summer months to create inside, as others would do in the winter months.  
There is a reason the southwest draws many artist.  I am able to come and go as I please, without worrying about the elements or light. 
Nature also plays a huge part in the southwest, and we respect her.  Items dry quickly and petrify easily, making them very easy to use in my creations. I use an Arizona Wet Palette (to keep my acrylic paints wet for several hours) 
See a wet palette video here. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9qZ7coM-Zdo .  If you are a plein air painter, a painter who enjoys creating outdoors, you quickly learn that early mornings are best for subtle light and a glorious sunrise. 

Can you remember when you started creating art?

My earliest memory of creating art was at age 4.  My father had a wood workshop that my siblings and I were forbidden to enter.  It was his sanctuary, and having 8 children I’m sure you understand his reasoning.  He would ask me to draw a pattern for him on newspaper that he taped together.  Needless to say, this was well before the computer age!  He would show me a picture of something he wanted to make from a magazine, explain the size and ask me to draw it onto the paper form he had created.  As I made the copy, he would instruct me as to size, larger or smaller, more rounded, etc. He taught me my eye-hand coordination. 
My mother was a seamstress/stay-at-home mom who enjoyed recycling.  She recycled metal from her home in World War II.  She’d save it all and reused jars, bins, boxes and made waste baskets, items to hold our stuff, practical things for reuse in the home. It was economical with a small budget and a large family. 
My father would permit me to use his house paint and model airplane brushes in the garage to create with.  I would hike to the local dump and pull items out that interested me, against my mother’s advice.  From an early age I was able to view an item and know exactly what it could be recreated for. I next remember copying cartoons from the Sunday comic papers for school reports. 
By the time I reached junior high I was making money creating covers for fellow class mates on their book reports, doing make-up for the local disaster drills, high school plays.  Needless to say, it has always been diverse and unusual, and still is interesting as to what I am asked to create and in what manner. I often have artists refer people to me to create a piece of art, knowing I work in many mediums.

What is your go to tool for creating?  

Paint is always my go-to tool for creating.  I was lucky to have a very astute art teacher in high school who recognized my talent.  For me, paint fixes everything.  I’ve always stated I’ve learned more from my mistakes in any medium.  Paint has let me to know color, recognize easily what coordinates.  
I can naturally see and know what colors to combine, it's instinctual.  I believe much of this is inborn for an artist, we see what others don’t. This is an area I use while teaching, knowing how students struggle with coordinating colors.  I use paint as a base to any project, as a compliment to my works; collage, encaustic, assemblage.  If I had no paint knowledge, nothing would be possible in any creation I attempted. 

If you were given a ruler, a paper plate and an earring what would you be motivated to create?

I would use the paper plate as a base for my creative piece.  I’d cover the plate with paint in a hap hazard manner, with two coordinating color, say purple and lime green.  I’d lightly lay a layer of purple, let it almost dry, then with a clean brush pick up lime green and paint it onto the piece, dry brushing the rippled rim to highlight the lime green. 
I’d then use the ruler to fold the plate in half.  I’d mount the plate, fan like with the assistance of the rule, onto a canvas.  The canvas would be painted with black paint or gesso as a solid, dark frame for the piece. 
I’d place the second half of the plate at an angle over the first, to the right, pivoting to the bottom of the canvas, projecting off the canvas and the first plate.  Only the base of each plate would meet and secure to the canvas. I’d then collage with paper to disguise seams, but leave the outer rims of the plate dimensional, away from the canvas.  
I’d leave the black background, leaving the colorful, dimensional plates to speak for itself, bold and with movement. I’d mount the earring, weather hanging or post, to the plate rim as a way to draw the eye, a simple, twinkling piece, to catch the eye when viewed.

Visit Cindy here: 
www.cindykovack.com
www.facebook.com/ckovack

WHAT DO YO THINK OF HER 

AMAZING FACE PAINTING 

AND AWESOME COSTUMES!

What a treat for this month!!!   

THANK YOU Cindy!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Now for our Day 7 

31 days of Halloween Card

 As you already know the Altered Pages Design Team is participating in Smeared & Smudged month long blog hop.  be sure to check the side bar for the blog roll!!!  Today we have a card by Lyneen!

Art Anthology Dimensional Paint

Glitz Pack Laced Grace Pattern Paper

Leaky Shed Wrought Iron Leaf Corner

Bazzill Raven Bling

Graveyard Black Paper

Altered Pages Collage Sheet: 

Halloween Postcards from the Edge

A Muse -Stamped sentiment- What's Brewing? 

What are you brewing up today?

THANKS FOR STOPPING BY!