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 Ancestral Bones Acrylic
Surrender Acrylic
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Paintings & Mixed Media
Artist’s Biography
Painter and mixed media artist Shirley Ashenbrenner is a life-long resident of Washington State. She gained her early formal art training at Western Washington University, where she studied painting under the late Gene Vike. After raising a family and building a career as a business owner and award-winning writer, Shirley resumed creating art in 1994. Since, then, she has studied privately with Howard McGoneghey, retired art school head at the University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, and several nationally and internationally known abstract painters. Today, many private collections include her work.
Artist’s Statement
Inspiration for my work often springs in response to the experiences of life—its sorrows and its joys. Sometimes, I let intuition and the materials determine my direction. Whatever the process, I continue to paint.
Following a meandering line, finding shapes where others see none, and bringing forth images from my mind’s eye have fascinated me since childhood. The child who still resides inside me cannot resist the color, smell, and feel of paint. For many years, the sensual richness of oils captivated me. Later, the fluidity and brilliance of acrylics lured me toward a new-found freedom. Then, I began painting with both oils and acrylics, and started incorporating collage, textures and found objects in my work.
Today, my work is predominately mixed media. For several years, I have been exploring a process that combines collage with layer-upon-layer of poured acrylic washes to build color areas. This exploration led to my series of large paintings built around the theme of relationships and an ongoing series of smaller works. Lately, however, the familiar itch to smear paint on canvas has me picking up pallet knife and brush. Whether mixed media or paint, it’s all exploration. Wonder what comes next?
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