More than 50 people attended a painting demonstration by Roberta Shea, the guest artist for the most recent program hosted by The Society of Creative Arts of Newtown (SCAN). The audience was extremely attentive and at the conclusion of the program one guest stated, “This is the first time we have ever had a packed room that was so attentive for almost two hours.”

The program was conducted in the lower meeting room of Newtown Meeting House, a space SCAN utilizes regularly.

Shea started with a blank canvas and by the conclusion of the demonstration she had created a new landscape oil painting that was approximately 75% completed. She indicated that she was going to take the piece back to her home studio and add in the final touches.

During the demonstration she used various brushes, paper towels, a palette knife, and a small squeegee as she brushed, dragged, scraped, and dabbed paint on the canvas.

Shea earned her degree in art education at Southern Connecticut State University. She also studied drawing at the Creative Arts Workshop in New Haven. She has been an art teacher in public schools and has also taught privately. She is a former board member of SCAN, a current member of Washington Arts Association, and also served as a docent at New Britain Museum of American Art.

Shea paints in oils and watercolor and often paints “plein air” with fellow artist Rick Daskam.

She recently gave herself the challenge of painting one new watercolor each day in an ongoing effort to keep her work “loose and not overly tight.”

She describes her work this way: “Although representational, my landscapes are not always identifiable as an exact place or specific point in time, but rather are a blend of actual or imagined scenes and memories. The process of painting is emphasized by layering, scraping, dragging, and dripping paint. The physicality of paint, gestural brushstroke, and the unfinished quality of my work invites viewers to become part of my creative process, thus completing the paintings with their own personal visions.”