Allegheny Township artist's work featured at Murrysville library gallery

Peter Cehily has been drawing since he was a child, influenced and taught by his older brother, Gregg, and his aunt, Julie.

In the early 2000s, the Allegheny Township resident returned to it and took classes at the Pittsburgh Center for the Arts in Shadyside. After one of his paintings was chosen for a juried show at Sewickley’s Sweetwater Center for the Arts in 2012, he began exhibiting his work regularly.

Cehily, 57, is the East Suburban Artists League’s featured artist for January at the league’s gallery inside the Murrysville Community Library.

“Being a member of ESAL and the other art leagues provides not only camaraderie with other fellow talented artists it gives one more opportunities to exhibit their work and make connection,” he said.

Cehily spoke with the Trib about working in different mediums and about his exhibit, which includes 30 pieces. It’s on display through the end of the month at the library, 4130 Sardis Road, Murrysville.

Q: Your portfolio includes a pretty wide variety of styles and textures. Do you have a particular favorite medium and/or subject?

A: I love drawing the human figure in ink or in pencil. Drawing in pen is my original medium and one I do almost daily, so it feels very natural. Now that I am also working in mixed media I can use many of the sketches I have amassed for those pieces. Mixed media is also a favorite. It allows for such a wide range of creativity.

I also work a lot in acrylic — I’m really very familiar with it and enjoy that medium. I like layering paint and it lends itself to that quite nicely. I like painting abstract. It is really wonderful to express oneself through abstract painting. I find abstract very freeing and it enhances my work in other mediums and other styles. One of the many things I like with abstract is that you can let the paint be paint.

Q: In an abstract piece like “The Rush of Passion’s Fire,” do you set out to capture a particular mood, or do you capture something and then create a title based on how it looks and feels to you afterward?

A: With this particular piece I was searching for a title after completing it and I heard part of the lyrics of a 1980s song and I kept thinking of it over and over in relation to this piece. I thought it fit quite well. In the piece, itself, I was using colors that I have not used that often. I really enjoyed painting with those various oranges and mauves — it was painted in the fall season and inspired by that as well. The title just seemed to work with the piece several weeks after it was complete. I do at times create a piece with the title already in mind and then other times I have to search for an appropriate title. I’d say it’s almost a 50/50 split. Lyrics are often a source for poignant titles as well as narrative from films. I love good titles.

Q: In a piece like “Blue Bird in the Barn,” with its galvanized steel matte and weathered frame, the boundaries of the canvas aren’t the boundaries of the piece. Does playing with those boundaries help expand the creative process for you as an artist?

A: I find that it does in certain pieces, especially ones that are smaller or an odd size that do not lend themselves easily to framing, or when working with mixed media. I find framing to be challenging — finding good frames that enhance the work and do not dominate it or diminish it. With this painting, after I selected the title, I painted the frame to give it a weathered look that blended and fit the work and the title. The shapes in the actual canvas just happened and were not pre-planned.