Feature Artist: Wanda Medina

By Taylor Wilson

Upon entering her home, I found a very interesting, unique, and creative artist. Wanda painted a large flower around the peephole on her door using it as the center of the flower. She said she has painted a flower on the door of her previous house also.

While viewing Wanda’s art, she showed me a painting of a scene in the Sunken Gardens and explained that she loves gardening. Painting water and trees are some of her favorites. Pointing out a painting of her grandfather, she mentioned she has a few tribute pieces to honor her relatives which reflect the importance of family. High on shelves, whimsical sculptures of clay and paper mâché emulate Wanda’s interest in three dimensional art.

This artist likes to paint the things that resonate in her memory. Usually this includes things she sees, photos taken when on vacation, and drawing on location. It is fun and relaxing for her. When asked why she paints her subjects, Wanda responded, “Most of them because I have a memory with it… Just to enjoy it. I like the colors and the details.” Visualizing themselves in her work is Wanda’s goal for the viewer.

When attending Northeast High School, Wanda learned to paint. Through time, workshops and books are two of the ways in which she continues to learn about art.

Wanda likes acrylic painting because it is a fast drying medium. However watercolors are her preferred medium which poses the greater amount of challenge. She also does colored pencil and collage work.

“Most of them because I have a memory with it… Just to enjoy it. I like the colors and the details.”

Wanda Medina

Wanda describes her style of painting as representational because she uses a variety of different colors and textures to interpret the subject using pure hues. To choose colors when painting, Wanda looks to the color wheel and finds three or four colors that are next to each other. The color vibrancy present in her work is what drew me to her art. Another technique Wanda pointed out was the graphing method used to help her draw or paint shapes like what she did in a picture of a bicycle partially covered by a bush.

She see art as a hobby, not a job or career. Still, Wanda finds that she can paint for several hours at a time. Wanda feels painting can be a challenge, but still enjoys it.

During my experience in Wanda’s home, I found her to be a kind, family oriented, artistic person. I noticed some clay forms on her studio table. She told me she likes to do art with her grandchildren. The discovery of these clay forms lead to an experience of painting alcohol inks on a harden clay star. Because of this experience, I was able to leave with a souvenir of my own thanks to a very generous artist.

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