Since taking up painting, Michele Winger spends much of her time in her home studio sketching scenes, mixing colours and bringing to life her watercolour creations. - NEWS PHOTO KENDALL KING
kking@medicinehatnews.com
A local artist is gaining recognition for her watercolour paintings, many of which depict scenes and buildings from Medicine Hat and area.
Michele Winger first picked up a paintbrush four years ago, having no prior experience with art. Since then, she has spent countless hours learning the basics of sketching and colour theory, as well as painting techniques. She now creates anywhere from two to three paintings per week, and her work hangs in numerous spaces across the region.
“Because I was an accountant, I was positive I had zero art skills,” Winger told the News. “I didn’t doodle or anything at all. And then I went to one of Christy Vince’s – Paintergirl’s – paint nights four years ago in February. I walked out with a decent painting and I told my friend who’s an artist and she said, ‘Come to the Strathcona Art Studios and I’ll let you borrow my water colour supplies.’ I was off and running after that.”
Winger became a regular at the Strathcona Art Studios, which operates out of the Veiner Centre, and in her spare time set up a studio in her house.
“It was a hobby at first, but then with COVID, it just became more and more what I was doing all the time,” said Winger. “I can’t go play pickleball, I can’t go play bridge, so I just do another painting instead.”
Paintings and art adorn the walls of Winger’s house, both her own and those of her mother, friends from Strathcona Art Studios and artists she admires. Some of her works live in a cabinet in her studio, as there’s no room for them to hang.
On the other side of her studio, paintings lay in various stages of completion.
“There’s usually a frustrating stage – most paintings go through an ugly-duckling stage, where it’s like, ‘Oh this is garbage. What am I doing? What do I think I am?’ And then you do a couple more things and it comes together,” she said.
“Sometimes, it’s hard to know when to walk away from a painting and not keep working on it until it’s ruined, but a moment usually comes where I go, ‘I’ve got it. I finally got it.'”
That’s one of Winger’s favourite parts of the artistic process; being able to step back and admire the final product. Her favourite part though is hearing from others who enjoy her work.
“It really feels good,” said Winger, “I get a lot of emotional satisfaction because people respond emotionally to what I do. Whether it’s happiness or tears brought on by memory, people strongly react and I just get so much from that.”
Many of Winger’s pieces are shared online on Facebook or Instagram. When she posts one of her local paintings, she says people oftentimes comment about their memories of the space pictured.
“I painted Ogilvie Mills and so many people used to work there so people would tell stories about it,” Winger said.
