South Florida Sun-Sentinel Palm Beach (Sunday)
Sea pours on ocean shore
Orlando watercolor artist creates new style of works in collaboration with waves
It’s in the sun-soaked splendor of Florida’s sandy shores that watercolor artist Patty Kane feels most at home.
“To me, this is the most beautiful place in the world,” she said while soaking in the rays of New Smyrna Beach one recent July day. “I’ve really grown to believe that where the ocean meets the land is where heaven and earth meet.”
As a watercolor painter for more than 30 years, Kane has often drawn inspiration from nature, composing vibrant scenes with palm trees, fern leaves and coastal sunsets.
Now she’s created a new process, literally taking inspiration from the sea by tossing heavy sheets of watercolor paper into the waves.
The paper tosses and turns with the motion of the ocean before drifting into the shimmering shallows, where the paper gets an infusion of texture from minuscule shells and sand.
As a teacher at Crealdé School of Art and one of McRae Art Studios’ artists, Kane often has experimented with different techniques and found ways of letting the paper “speak to her,” but this process feels especially unique.
“I love traditional beach scenes, but there’s something different here,” said Kane, who lives in Winter Springs but was enjoying a two-month retreat at New Smyrna Beach with her husband. “My whole process has changed. I pour the paint and I feel like I’m in collaboration with nature.”
This new method of working was born of experimentation one day a few years ago while swimming in shallow waters. Now, beachgoers often stop to ask what Kane is doing and observe the painter at work.
“Somebody saw me doing this and wanted to try, then she did it with computer paper,” she said. “I think it turned to pulp.”
Working with primary colors — red, yellow and blue — Kane pours paint onto the wet, sandy paper and watches as it flows between
Patty Kane showcases her“sea pour”paintings at New Smyrna Beach.
natural elements gathered from the sea.
Sometimes she leaves the paintings alone, letting the ocean’s collaborative effort speak for itself. Other times Kane will add palm trees, birds or shells after seeing what emerges from the “sea pour.”
As someone who tends to be a perfectionist, Kane said this experiment has been a lesson in giving up control.
“I tend to overthink things, to see it all the way through to the end,” she said. “With this, I can’t always see it through to the end. I never know what’s going to happen. It’s a letting-go process.”
More information: artbypattykane.com.
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