Scratchboard is a reverse-process medium usually seen in commercial illustration, and classically in black and white. One of very few scratchboard fine artists, Gerene is self-taught in this medium and often combines her black-and-white etchings with color to achieve unusual effects. "I’m an experimenter," she says. Scraper board, the medium for scratchboard, is a heavy white clay-coated paper board which is painted with drawing ink. Working with sharply pointed tools, the artist then scrapes the whites from the dark background.

"Scratchboard is a wonderful medium for learning tone and value," says Gerene, who sees no contradiction between her meticulous etchings and the broad strokes of her paintings. "All successful artwork depends upon the basics of composition and value, however it's rendered."

The more colorful side of Gerene’s artistic personality is expressed in oil, pastels, gouache and colored pencil -- loosely and with exuberant color. "I’ve always loved the impressionists," she says. "They did more than record a scene: they painted what they felt about it, with emotion, color and personal expression. "In my paintings I try to convey to my viewers my own feelings about my subject. In painting, the artist suggests, and the viewer supplies the details."

As a painter, Gerene has progressed from recording to interpreting through study with such well-known artists as Keith Ward, Ned Mueller, Robert Rohm, Deanne Lemley, Ann Templeton and Alfred Currier. "They’ve tried to teach me how to use color to depict light," she says. "I’m still learning -- and hope I’ll always continue to explore and learn -- but they’ve taught me to be myself as an artist. I love bright colors, and now I’m not afraid to use them."

A promotion consultant, writer and designer, Gerene earned a B.A. in Literature from Drew University, and holds a Certificate in Design from Famous Artists Institute. She is a board member of several local art guilds, and has long been a member of the National Wildlife Federation, the Northwest Pastel Society, and the National Audubon Society.

Gerene’s work has won awards at many Northwest art shows and is included in corporate and private collections across the United States and in Canada. She exhibits at selected art shows and at many fine art galleries from West to East Coast.

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