July 2015

"Gumbo on Glass" 
Acrylic on glass pane, 22.5” x 26” 
by Michelle Conques

"One of my students gave me four old pieces of window glass,” recalled artist Michelle Conques of Watson, Louisiana. “I said, ‘I’m not going to let these go to waste; I’m going to paint them.” After applying a layer of gesso, Conques painted in acrylic—her favorite mode of expression—then applied a strong glaze, locking the image in forever. “You lay it flat, then fire it with a blowtorch to get the bubbles out,” she explained. “The glaze is so shiny, people ask if I painted the image on the back side of the glass.”

Although she is a Nashville native, Conques has called Louisiana home for more than twenty years. “I love Louisiana and I adore painting the food,” she exclaimed. Although she often photographs the classic Louisiana dishes she encounters during trips to New Orleans, where she shows work at Jean Bragg Gallery, the paintings those feasts inspire are never copies of the dishes themselves. “For this one I made up the tablecloth, added shrimp, and put in the Jax beer,” she said.

A passionate lover of all things Impressionist, Conques teaches spirited weekly acrylic classes at her home studio in Watson, where there’s usually room to set up another easel or two. In Baton Rouge, she shows work at Circa 1857 and Acadian Frame & Art. MichelleConques.com.