Schrag to be featured artist at First Friday

Scenes of watercolor painted wildlife are the highlight of exhibits during the First Friday Artist Reception at the Ritzville Art Center on Friday, May 4 at 5-7 p.m. Local artist Linda Schrag has been chosen as the featured artist for the event and is displaying around 25 pieces of her artwork on Friday evening.

Schrag focuses her artwork around wildlife, ranging from native animals to serene flowers. Schrag completes each of her paintings as part of a collection, allowing individuals to purchase a series of their favorite artwork.

The wildlife in the set of paintings displayed at the gallery includes buffalo, blue herons, wood ducks and California quail. The series also includes flowers, such as irises, and grapes, which are a recent addition to the Schrag’s artwork.

“I’m trying to learn more while I’m painting,” explained Schrag. “I’m experimenting with what I like and what people enjoy.”

Schrag grew up on a cattle ranch with a feedlot just outside of Arlington, Wash. She spent summers working on the farm, riding horses, fishing and of course, drawing.

The inspiration to pursue becoming an artist came to Schrag at a very young age. Schrag’s grandparents had immigrated to America from Germany and her grandmother could speak a minimal amount of English.

In order to communicate with each other, the grandmother and granddaughter sat side-by-side and drew pictures to tell stories to each other. This is a memory that Schrag remembers fondly and wishes she could have spent more time with her grandmother as she passed away when Schrag was only eight-years-old.

Schrag excelled in school by finishing second in her high school class of 180 students. She went on to attend Washington State University on scholarships and took art, English and anthropology classes during her time there.

During the summer between her sophomore and junior year, Schrag was involved in a serious car accident, altering her ability to succeed at the same academic level as she had in high school. She suffered from amnesia and injured her right arm badly, but the setback did not stop her from thriving.

Schrag’s mother has been involved in art and crafts and Schrag’s parents encouraged her to pursue art as a hobby. Drawing and painting had always come naturally to Schrag and she began to create impressive artwork.

For 36 years, Schrag served as a school teacher and credits her now developed and refined sense of art to the children she taught and classes she took. The students allowed her to expand her outlook on art and creativity, while classes at Spokane Art Center and Valley Senior Center taught her techniques.

Currently, Schrag has about 25 pieces that are showing and 10-15 pieces that are ready, but have not been scanned. Schrag takes all of her artwork to Ink to Media, a reproduction company and art gallery in Spokane Valley.

Ink to Media provides fine art scanning at the business and Schrag brings her originals to the business to be scanned. This allows Schrag to sell the originals but have the option to make the artwork into posters, cards or prints for interested customers.

In order to expand her artwork and selection of paintings, Schrag is in the process of converting part of her garage into a studio. The studio would allow Schrag to complete oil and acrylic paintings, and help her experiment with different mediums.

Schrag and her husband, Michael, have spent a significant amount of time traveling around the United States and many other continents. It is this experience that has allowed Schrag to expand her artwork and to gain inspiration from different countries and cultures.

Recently, technology has allowed artwork to become a digital masterpiece but Schrag believes it distracts from the true talent of an artist. The one aspect of technology she has embraced is the ability to enlarge a photo in order to create it to scale in her paintings.

“A true artist is someone who can think of something and then draw it. It’s a feeling, an emotion,” said Schrag.

The First Friday event is sponsored by the Ritzville Area Chamber of Commerce and celebrates the talent and success of local artists in the area. The Ritzville Art Center is located at 109 West Main Avenue. For more information about the event, contact the Ritzville Chamber at 659-1936.