Kelly Rae Cunningham

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My paintings began with slabs of clay, ceramic glazes, and the same tools that I use today to apply, layer, and scrape away paint. I fell in love with mixing colors and the smell of oil paint and turpentine, so I turned from clay to canvas. My work is strongly influenced by the materials I work with, not only their physical properties but their history. I paint with many mediums as they lend different qualities to the process: oil for the saturation of color and patience, acrylic for speed, collage and layering for depth, and encaustics (oil and wax) as it is tactile and most like working with clay. My paintings employ layers of color, boldly worked with palette knives and brushes.