Viewfinder: Profiles of Creativity

Arts

Albany Artist: Judith Corning

This environmental artist uses oils and etchings to share the beauty she finds in her favorite natural places. You can see her work at www.judithcorning.com. She will be participating in Pro Arts Open Studios June 4-5.

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Judith Corning grew up in Sun Prairie, WI. As a little girl she would spend part of her 25-cent weekly allowance to buy typing paper to draw on. She loved to be outside, especially in the snowy winter. Her love of nature informs all her work.

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Judith Corning grew up in Sun Prairie, WI. As a little girl she would spend part of her 25-cent weekly allowance to buy typing paper to draw on. She loved to be outside, especially in the snowy winter. Her love of nature informs all her work.

Credit Dorothy Brown

$Corning uses photographs to capture the exact moment and light that catches her eye. She paints with oils in a detail-oriented realistic style. It might take her five or six months of working on a piece to unlock the mystery of what the camera caught in that fraction of a second.$ Credit Dorothy Brown

Corning often works on three to six pieces at a time. She needs to leave a piece to regain her objectivity about it. Sometimes when she is having difficulty with some aspect, she'll turn the painting sideways or upside down. These pieces are in a room in her house where she can walk by them and study the problem.

Credit Dorothy Brown

Corning sees her art as an extension of her love of nature. For the past 13 years she has been part of Beach Watch for the Gulf of the Farallones National Marine Sanctuary. Every four weeks she and a partner walk the stretch of the Point Reyes seashore from Abbotts Lagoon to Kehoe Beach, identifying birds and mammals dead and alive. Many of her paintings are of this beautiful stretch of coastline. "I want people to look at nature and love it."

Credit Dorothy Brown

Corning's precise work on the beach carries over into her art. She likes a clean palette of oils, so she keeps her colors on wax paper and refreshes them every few days.

Credit Dorothy Brown

Corning also enjoys creating etchings. Even though she works from photographs, each piece is about discovery. The camera catches a moment, but it is in the careful process of creating her art that she learns why she loved that moment.

Credit Dorothy Brown

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See more of Judith Corning's work on her website.

About this column: This column features local artists and creators. Have a suggestion about someone to feature? Send it to emilier@patch.com. Related Topics: Judith Corning