Our demonstrator for April was Monique Sakellarios. She presented a landscape demonstration in oil.
The meeting was held in the Guild Hall, First Congregational Church (middle side door), Sanborn Street, Reading, Wednesday April 10th, 2013 at 7:30 p.m.
We have some photographs of the event in case you could not make it there in person. You can click on any of the images on this page to view a larger version of it. Then, use the Back button on your browser to return to this page.
Monique starts with a red ground. She usually uses
Cadmium Red Medium for the ground, but tonight she started
with a much darker red. The red shows through in the finished painting.
Her medium is walnut oil with alkyd driers in it.
She paints top to bottom, using thin paint so that she
can paint over it without creating muddy colors.
She uses the Rule of Thirds for her compositions.
The canvas is divided by three horizontally and vertically.
That creates 9 rectangles and four focal points on the canvas.
This painting has the sky in the upper third of the canvas.
Here she has started putting in the middle ground
Finally she works her way into the foreground.
That is an old sock on her left hand, which is used
to clean off the brushes. Convenient for holding.
Even after putting the painting into a frame,
Monique continues to make improvements to the painting.
The finished painting.
Monique has demonstrated at RAA before, in 2008. You can see some photos of
the previous demonstration by clicking on the link below.
http://www.readingart.org/apr2008demo.shtml
Monique Sakellarios studied at the Leonardo Da Vinci School of Art and the American University, both in Cairo, Egypt. Her oil paintings have received numerous national awards and have been accepted into national juried shows sponsored by the Oil Painters of America (O.P.A.), the National Oil and Acrylic Painters Society (N.O.A.P.S.), the Catharine Lorillard-Wolfe Art Club, and The Cider Painters of America, among others. She is a juried member of the New Hampshire Art Association, a Signature Member and Governor of the N.O.A.P.S., and an associate member of the Hudson Valley Art Association.
Monique's work may be seen on the internet at http://www.moniquesakellarios.com/ and at galleries throughout the United States, including The Powers Gallery, Acton, Massachusetts; Pierce Gallery, Portsmouth, New Hampshire; Gallery on the Green, Woodstock, Vermont; Schaff Gallery, Cincinnati, Ohio; Churchill Gallery, Newburyport, MA; D. E. Craghead Fine Art, Carmel, California; and McGrath Dunham Gallery, Castine, Maine.
Monique Sakellarios is dedicated to making beautiful art. She is a prolific painter who follows a self-developed work schedule that has resulted in her producing and selling over 300 oil paintings annually!