Hello, my name is Renee Stricker and I am a fine artist from Northwest Ohio. I graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Art in 2008 and held an auction to sell most of my student work which consisted of a wide variety of mediums. Throughout my education I was inspired mostly by Abstract Expressionist artists such as Gerhard Richter, Henri Matisse, Joan Miro and Georgia O'keefe. I am currently inspired by the subjects in Alan Minshull work, the details in Jordan Perkins art and the unique application of paint by Alex Demmers.
My art over the last decade has primarily consisted of acrylic paintings on canvas and the bulk of my work has been dedicated to creating the Sea Creatures Collection. I am drawn to the vibrancy in this color pallet of blues, reds, oranges and yellow. It makes me feel giddy inside! I also love the diversity of the sea creatures features. Scales, shells, tentacles and even the living coral are all so unique and interesting to me.
Before I start painting, I generally have an idea of what my subject is. I go online and look at many different images of the subject and snip the ones I am drawn to or just particular aspects of them. I then create a collage of the images to print as a resource. Most of my paintings are on prestretched canvas. I paint the entire background with the primary color and I like to scrape, dab, wipe and smush the paint giving it lots of texture and depth. From there I use chalk to map out the subject and then begin layering on the paint. As the painting progresses I become more attentive to the details.
With my love of painting animals and my ever growing interest in nutrition and in Indian culture I expect my color pallet and possible subject matter to reflect these interests. I look forward to seeing what will become of these ideas.
“I learned this, at least, by my experiment: that if one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours.”
― Henry David Thoreau