Journey Through the Canvas

An artistic exploration of Landscapes

Kristin Guglietti/THG Catherine DeMarco stands besides two of her digital paintings at Casciano Coffee Bar & Sweetery.

Casciano Coffee Bar & Sweetery has a new exhibit called Journey Through the Canvas: An artistic exploration of Landscapes.

The exhibit will run from July 15 to September 8, and it features art by Catherine DeMarco of Hammonton and Katie Ventura of Haddonfield, N.J.

There will be a closing reception on August 23 from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. where people can meet DeMarco and purchase the artwork from the exhibit.

During the closing reception, there will be a Community Market on Horton Street, Artisan Market at Kitchen 19 and artwork from the exhibit at Casciano Coffee Bar & Sweetery will be 10 percent off.

DeMarco and Ventura met as students at Rowan University in 1998 where they studied abroad together in Italy.

Throughout the years, the two artists encouraged and helped each other in their careers, and this year they decided to create an art exhibit together for the first time.

In the exhibit, Ventura shows off her love of painting landscapes while DeMarco showcases her passion for digital painting.

A digital painting is an art form using computer software such as Adobe Photoshop with a graphics tablet and stylus pen.

Using a stylus as a utensil and the computer screen or tablet as their canvas, the artist can create beautiful illustrations similar to a traditional painting.

DeMarco uses one of her photographs as a reference for her digital paintings then she uses Procreate to create the digital painting.

She’s been doing digital art for about five years.

One of the reference photos is a 1980s photograph from The Hammonton News during a snowy day when DeMarco was walking with her son Jesse, her son Richard and her daughter Ariana on Third Street.

“For years I’ve had that photo and I’ve been wanting to do a painting, so I thought well now I’m doing digital; I’m going to do the digital version of it,” DeMarco said.

For the digital version of the photo, DeMarco removed the street from the background and created a snowy backdrop.

Ventura’s attraction to landscape painting started early on before college. She would set out on expeditions to photograph and sketch the world around her.

Ventura captures landscapes from New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, North Carolina and Virginia as well as sights from her trips to National Parks of America including Yellowstone National Park and the Grand Tetons.

Both artists explore landscapes and nature with some familiar sights in South Jersey and some far away locations such as the beaches of Emerald Isle, North Carolina.

For her next art project, DeMarco discussed possibly illustrating using digital art.

“I’m going to keep working on all of the photographs I have because I have so many from over the years, and I just find them really rewarding to do. Actually, somebody came in and said they remind them of children’s books,” she said.