Senior painters get back to the easel

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GLEN RIDGE, NJ — After a summer break, the Glen Ridge Studio Seniors Art Class is actively painting again at the Ridgewood Avenue Train Station. The artists are not beginning any new works but preparing for a February art exhibit at Crane’s Mill Senior Living Community in West Caldwell by finishing paintings undertaken with instructor Khrystyna Khristianova, who has been with the group for the past two years.

“We plan after the show to switch mediums,” Khristianova said earlier this week. “We will be going from oil to watercolor. All of the work in the show will be oils. We just wanted to try something different.”

Although the medium will be changing, the array of subject matter will not. The class will continue painting still lifes, seascapes, landscapes, animals and portraits. Students often work from magazine or personal photographs and still lifes are sometimes arranged for the class.

Khristianova told the class she kept busy during the summer by painting a jacket on commission. Asked if she meant a painting of a jacket, she said no, she had painted a piece of clothing, using acrylic paints for flexibility.
“I like to take fun commissions,” she said.

The Glen Ridge Studio Seniors Art Class meets Tuesday mornings, from 10 a.m. to noon. For more information, contact Jim Cowens at jtcowan@glenridgenj.org or 973-748-2924. Beginners are welcomed.