Cindy Aune, a local Oxford resident, has become nationally known as a very uniquely styled artist. Known for her distinctive painting style, Aune uses her fingers to paint instead of brushes. Her quick finger movements create her signature loose and fluid painting style.
While her work changes often, “it is always abstracted and large-scale,” Aune said. “This large scale is what is unique about my art; one big expressive space with figurative pieces.”
Aune said her work goes in cycles. Right now her focus is on figurative pieces and faces. She paints her subjects in a series of what she finds interesting at the time.
“For a month or two I paint nothing but that subject,” she explained.
Aune showcases her work in festivals and pieces are currently displayed at the Caron Gallery in Tupelo, and the Southern Breeze Gallery in Ridgeland.
She comments that her work helps her stay sane.
“I paint because I have to,” she said. “For me right now, it is simple, I have to feel and see the bright pigments, discover where the piece will take itself; spending my time in the joyful and sometimes frustrating world created by painting.”
Once Aune feels she has mastered a subject, she moves on to a new one. Life is always changing, and so are her subjects. She describes the faces she paints not as portraits, but rather abstract figures expressing emotions. She says, however, that she will always go back to painting floras.
Aune teaches this technique in her studio, which was built in 1989 and is located in the College Hill area, across from her home.
Aune was born in Hattiesburg in 1956 and graduated from Ole Miss in 1978 with a bachelor’s degree in art. She and her husband Eddie have two children, Mike and Bob.
As a young-adult, Aune worked in a freelance institution, employed as an engineering draftsman. She began producing hand-painted merchandise and later painted and produced designer rugs, which are still in production today.
When she was 38, she began wholesale marketing. The business sold art and general gift items that were shipped all over the country and into the Bahamas.
It wasn’t until 2010 that Aune knew she wanted to paint every day. Her husband bought her a painting workshop with California artist Robert Burridge. His workshop changed Aune’s painting style, along with her outlook on art. Burridge taught the technique of painting with one’s fingers, which has since become Aune’s signature style.
Since 2010, she has been painting fine art canvases using soft-bodied acrylic paint. She explains her work as having limited detail and “large, expressive and graphic pieces with lots of lights and darks.”
Aune said the best compliment she ever received was when she did the Hoover Bluff Park art show in Alabama. Her art was displayed in a 10 by 10 tent and a lady walked in and told her, “I feel like there is a soul in here.” Aune said that although other people may not understand the grandeur of this compliment, she finds it to be the greatest thing anyone has ever told her in regard to her work.
Aune is listed on Famous Oxonian, a website which works to recognize Oxford natives who have gained national recognition for their contributions to various fields. While she paints for herself, Aune hopes that along the way she is creating something that others will enjoy.
— Joanie Sanders
