Textural Acrylics: A Solo Painting Exhibition by Gayle Faulkner

From the time I was a small child, I wanted to be an artist. During my childhood, art was not considered to be an important pursuit. In the Kansas City, Missouri school district, we had a traveling art teacher for about½ hour per month. I was also a very academic child and knew that I needed a scholarship to go to college. I got my scholarship to a very good academic collage and graduated with a degree in Sociology. I spent years working with children in a variety of capacities. One day, out of the blue, I decided to be an artist. As usual, I jumped in with both feet. I took some painting classes with the focus on the elements and principals of design. I spent hours in my cold dark basement practicing until I was able to create some good watercolors.

My watercolors are painted in a nontraditional manner and I was gratified that they actually worked. I started doing shows around the United States and have won numerous awards, participated in juried exhibitions and have work in private and corporate collections around the world.

When Covid drastically changed our lives, I decided to pursue a new direction and started using “Textural Acrylics”. These are created with a palette knife on canvas. Incorporating modeling paste and acrylic gels as well as wood and collage have led me to a new awakening. Painting primarily in an impasto style, I become immersed in the process as I have a “conversation” with the painting so that a joyful merging of color, texture and creativity emerge. Every painting invites the viewer to come into the world on the canvas and make it their own. I love my new direction and can only imagine how my paintings will grow in the future.