Скачать или смотреть Local artist uses unique painting technique to overcome adversity

NORTH AVONDALE, Ohio (WKRC) - As they say: "Necessity is the mother of invention."

Clara Harkavy knows that first hand. She's a local artist who paints using a unique method.

On a Wednesday afternoon, the mother of three is wearing a paint-covered smock and working in her studio. She reflected on her early love for art.

“I have done artwork my whole life since I was five," said Clara.

For Clara, art isn't a hobby. It's just part of who she is.

On Wednesday, she was working on a portrait of her grandson, Hank, but her studio is filled with different faces. Some are of actors and others are of people she's met throughout life.

Portraits are her favorite. There's paint everywhere, but no brushes. Instead, there are squeeze bottles of acrylic paints on her workspace.

"This is a technique that I use with paint and I put my paint in a bottle and I drip it out of a bottle," said Clara.

Clara uses a photograph to sketch an outline onto a canvas, then fills it in by drizzling the paint. She calls it “drizzle art”.

“There is no blending,” Clara said. “If something bloops onto the canvas, I leave it.”

She started drizzling six years ago. It was a way to continue doing what she loves, despite suffering from tremors that escalated as she got older.

“People would notice that my hands were shaking and they were like, oh, I stopped painting because my hands shake and I’m like, well you don't paint with your hands. You paint with your mind. So if you're having this difficulty you can still do it because your mind will overcome it,” said Clara.

For the past two years, she's been working on a collection that she’s donating. Clara finished 87 portraits of members of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, her name discretely hidden in each of her works. Clara's CSO paintings will be displayed in Music Hall starting in September.

At the end of the interview, Clara thanked Local 12 and Angela Ingram for taking an interest in her work and amazingly, she says she doesn't believe she's that interesting.

The beauty of her art is magnified because, despite her talent, Clara is humble and seemingly oblivious to her greatness.