Heron’s Nest Studio Gallery is excited to host a one-day, one-man show for Finger-Painting Artist, Blair Mueller on Saturday, August 20 from 10 am to 4 pm. When gallery owner, Wendie Donabie, first viewed Mueller’s work, she was immediately captivated by his unique style and process and the vibrancy and energy in his animal portraits. Blair will be on site to answer questions and share his artistic journey. Location: Heron’s Nest Studio Gallery, 95 Muskoka Road, Bracebridge.
Influenced by his own imagination, Blair’s self-taught finger-painting style is a combination of computer-generated designs and his experimental techniques, He looks at the animal kingdom in a new kind of light. For this Muskoka based artist, painting with his hands and fingers feels freer and grounding.
Working primarily in acrylics on canvas, Blair’s artistic reach stretches across other mediums including wood, glass, mixed media, and even sculpture and other handmade items. But when it comes to painting on canvas, capturing the beauty of life on earth by means of bold colours in various swipes, dabs, smears, and smudges of paint by fingertip, has been his focus since 2015.
In Blair’s words, “Painting with my fingers instead of brushes is akin to walking barefoot instead of with shoes.”
When Mueller’s choosing a subject for a painting, it all comes down to the right picture. Once he finds it, he breaks down the image digitally into simple shapes and colours while still capturing the life and soul of the animal. Next he sketches out the design on the canvas, shakes off all ideas of perfection and lets his fingers guide him through each part of the animal. Because he’s split up the image into blocks of solid colours, losing all fine and realistic details, his technique relies on a variety of textures and the movement of the paint he places on the canvas to create the detail. Each one-of-a-kind piece of artwork is built up using layers of colour, usually applied one at a time, drying in between, until he feels there is nothing more to add.
For more information, please contact Wendie Donabie, 705-646-3663 or heronsneststudiogallery@gmail.com
