Brazosport Art League member and Teen Studio Time instructor Mark Allan Cameron opens his exhibit, “The Mind of the Colorist”, this week in the BAL gallery. The show is open from 11:00 AM – 3:00 PM, Tuesday through Saturday each week, and runs through Saturday, February 12.
Cameron joined the art league and began taking painting classes from longtime BAL instructor Dolores Reynolds in 2014. He started out with acrylics and moved into oil painting before deciding to branch out.
“Now I do a little bit of everything,” Cameron said. “Oils are my favorite, but I do acrylics, watercolor, alcohol ink and am trying to get into sculpting as well. I took classes with Dolores for two and a half to three years and then after that I was kind of on my own. I studied a lot of Van Gogh, Picasso and their contemporaries…I like the modern artists.”
One thing gallery visitors will also notice is that Cameron likes bright colors. A lot.
“You can tell I like bright, sharp, colorful paintings,” he laughed. “Only when the subject calls for a muted or dull palette will I tone it down some. I don’t do many photo-realistic things and tend to abstract almost everything, so I can make things my own.
“I may have an idea in my mind before I start a painting and know exactly what I want, but it’s not always like that. I might start painting a building and end up with a dinosaur. Some days the paints take me where they want to go and other times, I tell them where to go.”
In addition to creating his own art, Cameron has served as an instructor during Teen Studio Time, the art league’s weekly workshop for 13- to 18-year-old student artists, for the last three years.
“I really enjoy doing art to express myself, but I love teaching art as well,” he said. “Einstein once said that only a life lived helping others is a life worth living. I try to put that into practice, so whenever I’m asked to help with classes for the teens or kids, I’m more than willing to jump in.”
Tickets to visit the BAL gallery are free, but reservations are required and can be made in advance or when you arrive. Hours of operation are 11:00 AM – 3:00 PM, Tuesday through Saturday.
