Amazing ability

Amazing ability

Dear Editor,

Prehistoric men made paints and colored materials from plans and clay into a powder.

They added water to this. They decorated caves and their bodies.

The Romans learned the skills involved in making paint from the Egyptians. In 400 B.C., the Romans used white lead as a pigment.

In England at the end of the Middle Ages, people began making paints and used them on churches and public buildings.

Kay Clesson, who died Jan. 8,2018, at age 98, had an amazing ability to paint using watercolor, oil and often times egg tempera and acrylic.

I spent many a pleasant afternoon in her classes trying to improve my ability to use oil paints. She taught me that titanium white was the workhorse of pigments and that skies had shades of yellow, pink and even green in addition to blue.

Her specialty was landscapes. However, she stood over me like a mother hen and helped me with painting a portrait of Porter Rockwell, an early Mormon pioneer and Pony Express rider.

Her critiques were very constructive and helpful (Avis Ray, who at one time assisted Dr. John Batty at the McCook Clinic, was also a student of Kay’s. She produced some fabulous artwork in those painting sessions.)

I was involved in several musicals that were performed at the City Auditorium. She encouraged me to participate in those. She was dedicated to helping her students pursue creative writing and artistic activities including singing.

Kay was ready to help us in every way possible Her artwork was awarded ribbons in Europe. It was also displayed in galleries in Colorado where I grew up.

The McCook Art Guild is fortunate to have it hanging up for the public to enjoy and where people can spend time studying it.

Helen Ruth Arnold,

Trenton, Neb.