How to go
What: Works by Cecilia Brendel
Where: Art gallery at the Centerville Police Department, 155 W. Spring Valley Road
When: Jan. 1-31
Hours: Always open/day or evening
Reception: 4 to 6 p.m. Friday, Jan. 9
More info: 937-433-7151 or www.ceciliabrendel.com
Cecilia Brendel’s career included technical illustration for Notre Dame University, McGraw-Hill and American Book Publishers, among others. But the Centerville resident was just getting warmed up for her real passion in life, as a professional artist specializing in old masters’ style oil paintings.
She is presenting about 20 landscapes, portraits and still lifes at the Art Gallery located at the Centerville Police Department for the month of January.
One of those works is titled “Italian Still Life.” The richly textured painting showcases a clay jar sitting atop a stack of old books, surrounded by several fruits: a shiny apple, lemon, a bunch of red grapes and half a pomegranate. The number five inscribed on one of the books stands for the five women in the art class with a Russion master painter in Washington several years ago.
“It was my very first still life, and I was surprised and shocked at how well it turned out,” said Brendel. “It was done in the Flemish method, a slower process that creates a richer look. I learned that method in Belgium, and it’s very unique in today’s world.”
Another work presented that was done in the Flemish style is “Venezuelan Woman.” This portrait shows strength of character in the woman’s face, captured in fine layers of paint. Brendel is excited to be back at the Art Gallery of the Centerville Police Department where she had her first solo show in 2012.
“I’ve only been seriously pursuing oil painting for the past two years,” said Brendel, whose Sicilian ancestors emigrated to America back in 1890. “I love the oil medium for its true and vivid color. I get frustrated with acrylics, because they dry too fast and you can’t blend them.”
Brendel’s oil painting style follows the traditions of the Hudson River School, Rembrandt, Corot and Renoir. She has studied with masters such as Abdon Romero, Caesar Santos and Alexi Antonov. She won the Best of Dayton award from the Dayton Society of Painters and Sculptors for 2014. Brendel would like to use that experience to teach others at the Olde Masters Galleria, which opened at 25 Iron Gate Park Drive in Centerville in September of 2011.
She has recently completed 18 paintings for Hotel Sabon, a new vacation destination in Belgium. Her client list includes art enthusiasts from Italy, Sicily, and almost every state in the U.S. She is adept at taking a treasured photos and turning them into an heirloom oil painting. She was also tapped as this year’s featured artist for Art at the Trace on Feb. 7. For that event she will donate “Poppies in Argenteuil,” valued at $250, for the raffle.
Brendel has an arts and sciences degree in graphic arts from Ivy Tech State College in South Bend, Ind. She also specializes in Christian art and was invited to participate in the Catholic Art Conference in Omaha, Neb., coming up in September 2015.
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