From a Painter's Perspective

by Caroline Ulbrich

2007-10-12 00:00:00

Whether with a brush, a finger, a water bottle or a computer, Renee Auguste is always painting. Now, she brings her talents to Canvas Press.

Through the encouragement of her mother, Auguste began painting and drawing at age three. She began a traditional study of art at the young age of 14, when she was given a scholarship to California State University, Northridge. Following this, she worked mostly on her own with charcoals before deciding to take up the study again at 24. She attended Santa Rosa College and then Learning Tree University.

Auguste's focus had always been pen and ink and charcoal, when she decided it was time for some color. She started out with acrylics, and under her mother's recommendation once again, she took up oil painting and fell quickly in love with the medium. She grew this talent at LTU where she began studying Impressionism and was mentored by Renee Amitai, a world-renowned architect and designer turned painter and printmaker.

Auguste has several styles of art, impressionism, abstract and classic. Her classic and impressionistic works are typically done in oil, whereas the abstracts she takes on with a different approach. She says those are often done in acrylic and are "painted with my fingers, arms, brushes, water bottles and anything else I can get my hands on."

Canvas Press found Auguste in May of this year, and brought her on the team. Her skills in art and canvas help her work with our products, but even more exciting is the painting she is able to do, even at Canvas Press.

This kind of painting has gone digital. Using Corel Painter and a Wacom Tablet she can paint by hand on the computer. Auguste will take a regular photograph and turn it into a painting. Once we print it out on canvas and stretch it, she can then add an acrylic lacquer to the finished product, giving a three-dimensional brush stroke texture and therefore helping people have their very own oil paintings.

Another benefit to being here at Canvas Press, is having easy access to our giclee reproduction services. By photographing her paintings, she can then have endless copies printed on canvas. Creating reproductions allows an artist keep his or her originals, or to continue to sell those pieces once the originals are sold. "Also, for your customers, it is more cost effective…" Auguste says, "While you can definitely find people who will pay $4000 for an original, you can reach a broader audience by having Giclee alternatives."