Petey Scruggs
Although Petey Scruggs did not start painting in earnest until her youngest child went to grammer schol, she has been an artist all of her life. "I see art in everything," she says, "from the ephemeral landscape of daily life to form and color on canvas."
As a child she watched and studied her father drawing, and etching and creating large wood-veneered panels. His detailed technique and concentration facinated her, and although her mature work in acrylic is abstract expressionist in genre, she learned from him that an artist must be able to draw before moving toward abtraction. Indeed her first works were very realistic etchings and watercolors of seashells, flowers and landscapes. Drawing in and of itself, however, lacked the boldness, movement and depth of color that she so admired of the Abstract Expressionist masters such as William de Kooning and Jackson Pollock.
While she continues to draw and begins each piece wtih charcoal outlining, it is now the layering of color, space verses line, and the very act of putting paint to canvas that inspires her work today. "I do not know what a finished piece will look like before I begin," she explains. "Often I'll paint a swatch of color on unprimed canvas, then spray it with water just to see the drips that form, then work with those drips, layering color and line as the piece takes on a life of its own." She works quickly, often finishing a large canvas in one sitting.
Some of her most current work incorporates the cherry and varying burl wood veneers left over from her father's work of the 1930's. "The veneers give a piece its final texture, balance and depth that pay homage to my father and the artistic nature he inspired in me," she says.
Having been creating for over 50 years, Petey Scruggs continues to experiment with space, color and materials - it's what keeps her young, vibrant and alive.
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