She is comfortable with oil, acrylic and silk painting. She works with ceramics, producing vases and other forms of pottery. She works with silver and unique fused glass to create necklaces, earrings, pendants or bracelets. She also does beadwork, working with polymer.
And she puts her computer to work to do portraiture.
 Mary McKinstry holds a portrait of her daughter-in-law, Deanna, which is part of her exhibit of computer-painted portraits at the Half Moon Bay Library. |
They resemble formal portrait paintings. But a closer look reveals more. The subjects, of all ages, are not passively posing; they look almost candid, relaxed. The portraits themselves show the realism the camera gives, but are enhanced by insidious layers of light and textures.
McKinstry has perfected a means of portraiture that brings together the richness and tradition of fine art and the precision and potentials of high tech. Her "original prints" are produced on her computer through a new technique that evolves from photographic prints through the use of sophisticated painting software. The result is created more quickly, at a significantly lower cost, than traditional hand-executed portraits.
"People want traditional art because it's timeless," said McKinstry, "but hardly anything is hand-painted anymore."
To create a portrait, McKinstry begins with a photo image, preferably a digital one she takes herself. She puts it through Photoshop, to touch it up and remove blemishes or tiny faults.
Then she brings in her painting program, Corel Painter 10.
She has at her fingertips hundreds of different brushes and brush effects, as well as chalks, pastels, pens and more.
The tool is an actual brush tool, not a mouse. "You can't paint with a rock," she said, giggling.
The artist can manipulate the software to access all these tools or create her own palette of colors.
To transform the initial photo image into a portrait on her electronic canvas, she begins with the background. Then she adds outlines or a tracing of her subjects - people or animals - and brings them to life in up to 100 layers.
She says she can get an effect of impasto, which is like thick dabs of oil paint. Or she can add textures with many brush types, or pigments, to highlight.
Little changes in color, within a few easy keystrokes, can make a world of difference in a painting. The overall effect can be warmer, have depth and dimension, or can look different. For example, in one portrait, McKinstry gave her granddaughter long hair.
Between the manipulation of the pigments and effects with brush-like tools, the process is like painting, she said, "without the mess and cleanup."
Seeming almost giddy with delight, she talks about the program's resources and ease, by drawing an analogy of shopping at a clothing store. "With a computer you can try on everything in the store and every combination, before deciding what you want."
But there's a caveat. High tech or not, the artist must still be an artist. You still need artistic basics, skill and talent, she said. "You can't make a good artist if you don't have an art background."
Time and cost are other factors. McKinstry says it usually takes her only a week to complete a portrait. She charges $200 to $250 for a small portrait of 11-by-14 inches and $350 for a standard size of 16-by-20 inches, as opposed to five figures for an oil portrait.
It took time for McKinstry to find this new technology.
Originally from Belfast, she became involved with art in her 30s. As a newly single mother in Southern California she studied graphic art and went to work producing brochures for a housing development company.
She came to the Bay Area and sold custom-glazed ceramic tiles for commercial use. In 1989 she remarried, and her second husband, Wolf Priebe, encouraged her to devote herself full-time to her art. A computer programmer, he helped her into digital art. She didn't need much urging: "I love to learn new techniques in any art field."
She also developed her skills in ceramics and jewelry, and applied her newfound computer skills to painting landscapes, some of which are included in the library exhibit.
She praises the blend of high tech and art. For her, it's physically easier to paint on a computer, and faster with the technology. "You can get more effects that you can't get without a computer," she said. Besides, "You can move almost as fast as your mind can think."
And if she makes a goof, she doesn't have to throw it away.
Instead, she has built a new life around digital art, creating portraits of loved ones or pets. "I really love the process or creating art with portrait pictures," she said. "I get a lot out of it because it's adding pleasure to someone else's life."
She has won recognition for her art: an honorable mention from the Los Gatos Museum and first-place awards from the Santa Clara Art Association, in the 1990s.
McKinstry will be back at the library in May, for an exhibit of her jewelry. In the meantime, she can be reached at 728-1251.
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