In the art world, open air painting is called En plein air. Zehra Tuncel and Galen Summers, the artists featured this month, create art in very different styles. But both work in public spaces letting us see them transform a blank canvas into a work of art. They are both also in the beginning of their art journey and look forward to sharing their work with you. 
Zehra Tuncel’s Ice Cream Scoops
Lincoln Park residents have enjoyed watching Zehra Tuncel create her art over the past few months. The long-awaited opening of the Hill’s newest ice cream shop, Le Petite Scoop, at the corner of East Capitol Street and North Carolina avenue SE, is even more special thanks to Tuncel’s vivid paintings. Her American friends call her Sarah, easier than the Turkish pronunciation, and she is in love with the Hill and NOMA communities. A relative of Wine and Butter’s owner, Attila Suzer, Tuncel happily agreed to transform the white walls on the side of the building into a charming ice cream world. 
“I am not formally trained in painting,” she says, “but have painted since I was five years old and painted the walls of my parent’s home.” She has been a member of the NOMA women’s rugby team for the past five years, which is an extension of her love of sports that includes seven years as a kick-boxing champion. “Art is how I express myself, she says, “and while my family aren’t artistic themselves, they have always been so supportive of my work.”
Her family is from the region of Circassia between the Black and Caspian seas. After the 19th century Russo-Circassian war, the population was displaced, with many living in Turkey, Jordan and Syria. “It is my traditions that draws me to subject matter like painting horses, dogs and other animals.” She is currently painting a very large canvas of horses and says she “can feel the souls of these animals as I paint.”
Tuncel experiments with mixing oil and acrylic paints to get the colors she seeks. “It also dries faster,” she notes. Her work includes indoor and outdoor murals. She would love to expand her art by adding pet commissions to her portfolio. You can see her work on her Instagram account, www.instagram.com/zehratuncel.art/, and she can be reached by email at zehratuncel@gmail.com.
Galen Summers – Observer Extraordinaire
Another local artist, Galen Summers, uses public spaces to create art in a very different setting. Galen can often be found at Union Market’s Songbyrd Music House and other venues, sketching the musicians and their environment.
Hill Rag’s own Andrew Lightman says Summers is a fixture in the area’s punk music scene, where he has been doing live sketching for a few years. Also called by his formal name, George, he says he is just one among artists and photographers who enjoy this interest.
Summers came to the DC area three and half years ago to attend Georgetown University for his master’s degree in international relations. While a student, he began attending music venues and found he enjoyed bringing his sketch book and pencils. “I think it makes me much more aware of my surroundings, and it helps me become an extraordinary observer.”
“I like to get to the venues a little early and take a good look around. Suddenly you notice the decorations on the guitar strap or the design on the drum sets.” He adds that he can also find a good spot for his drawing. Summers wouldn’t call himself a musician, but he did play the sousaphone in his Lexington, Kentucky, marching band. A sousaphone is a large musical instrument that is part of the tuba family. “It wasn’t that easy to play and march at the same time, but it did give me an appreciation for music.” 
Summers makes his sketches with a variety of mechanical pencils that he has organized in a zip pouch, and ones he has experimented with to find the right kind of lead that can be shaded and smeared to create better shadows. He tends to do quick sketches although he says he is beginning to appreciate doing architectural sketches of the venues he is visiting. “If you look closely,” he notes, “there are all kinds of shapes and angles in the spaces you are in that make a very satisfying sketch.”
Summers enjoys drawing cartoons, something that connects him his family in Kentucky. “My father has a great collection,” Summers says. He enjoys using his imagination to draw scenes and comment on things happening in the world around him, a skill he developed during his years in the Los Angeles area. His attention to detail with a twist of humor make the cartoons fun and entertaining.
Summers is interested in finding more ways to share his art and invites folks to visit his Instagram account to see his work. He is happy to have other music fans ask to see his sketches while he works. He invites you to see his art on Instagram at www.instagram.com/dmvrovingsketcher/. He can also be reached at dmvrovingsketcher@gmail.com.
Rindy O’Brien writes about Capitol Hill’s art and cultural scene and can be contacted at rindyobrien@gmail.com.
