Wildlife insight - Cape painter Mary Strong in first solo show

Growing up in Northern Illinois, Mary Strong spent her summers surrounded by nature at her parents' summer home in Wisconsin. Before moving to Cape Girardeau, she and her husband, Robert, lived in Southwest Missouri on 120 acres filled with wildlife. When Strong decided to begin painting, the furred and feathered naturally became her primary subjects.

Strong will have her first-ever solo show beginning today at the Arts Council of Southeast Missouri. The 22-piece show is titled "Lasting Impressions."

A reception for the artist will be held from 5-8 p.m. today at the galleries, 119 Independence St.

The show will remain on display through March. Gallery hours are 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday through Friday.

Strong has had no formal training. She taught herself to paint through trial and error. She discovered that oils take too long to dry for her and that watercolors easily turn muddy.

"Watercolors are very unforgiving," she said.

Acrylics, with their ability to dry quickly, gave Strong the control she needed to paint fur and feathers.

"It was a learning process," Strong says.

Her work has been shown in galleries in Springfield, Mo. She won the Earl A. Peterson Award for outstanding new artist in Mountain Home, Ark.

Strong was drawn to begin painting after years when family life and traveling consumed most of her time. "It helps me lose myself," she says. "If there are any problems during the day, I can go to the studio and the day just kind of whizzes by."

Woodpeckers, baby owls, squirrels, mice, chickens and cougars are some of the subjects in Strong's paintings.

Not everyone thinks she should limit herself to wildlife.

"My husband keeps telling me to try people," she said.

But she prefers painting animals. "I think animals are very honest," she says.

"You get a reaction very quickly. And you know what that reaction is."

sblackwell@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 182