Artist’s Statement

As we experience the world around us, we often hold onto fleeting moments we remember more as feelings than how things really looked.  In my work, I strive to capture these moments, enhancing the feelings with expressive colors, yet retaining the reality of the scene.

Color and light are always significant in my work. Since I don’t travel the world, hike in the wilderness, or set up my easels outdoors, I consider myself an everyday artist. I paint things people see everyday, either out their windows or driving to or from destinations. However, I have been fortunate to live in one of the most beautiful, best kept secrets in Colorado. What I see out my windows, or along the highways has been very special.  But no matter whether my painting is of the magnificent Spanish Peaks, or of a lowly rock in the snow, my hope is to connect with others who share my love of the natural world.

I find my subjects everywhere, from a striking shadow running through a clump of weeds, to the awesome cloud displays in the sky, to sunlit flowers, to foggy hidden trees. I have a need to connect my inner thoughts with the surface of the painting, like electric current jumps from its source to the ground.  This interaction between myself and the paints creates excitement not similar to anything else in my life. I keep several paintings in progress at all times, because my moods shift so much.  When I feel the need to concentrate on tight detail work, I turn to watercolor.  When I have the need to really interact with my work, it’s the oils. But there is always something I can work on, no matter which one of me shows up that day.

Artist’s Bio

I began my journey as an artist while in Jr. High, copying comic strip characters. There was very little art instruction in our small, Midwestern town. A week long, out-of-state art camp and a few art classes at the local college provided me a bit of a foundation before pursuing my love of drawing and painting as an art major at the University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana campus. Two years into my university studies, I relocated to the Washington D.C. area and completed my undergraduate degree at the American University in Washington, D.C. in 1970, earning a B.A. in Art Education.

I currently work in both oils and watercolor, after painting in acrylics for about 25 years.  I began with oils at Illinois, but switched to acrylics when raising a family. In recent years, after relocating from northern to southern Colorado, I rediscovered watercolor when a friend encouraged me to take classes with local artist Marge Bradley.  My upstairs studio in Huerfano County provided a magnificent view of the Spanish Peaks, twin mountains that are aligned east to west, catching the morning and evening sun on their striking crags and valleys. Ever since then I have been painting portraits of the Spanish Peaks and surrounding scenery in watercolor. 

A few years ago, I took up oil painting again. Employing a digital camera I always carry with me, I capture moments to use as references in later paintings. Often these images don’t stand well alone, so I will create pictures around them to recreate the feelings of the moment, using additional reference photos taken over the past 10 years. Then I print photos to cut up and piece together when creating a composition. If the painting will be done in oil, I paint directly from the pieced together photos, smoothing the transitions as I go. I do little drawing when doing an oil painting. I begin by blocking in masses and gradually working in the colors and details, striving to retain a certain amount of looseness and mood.

For watercolors, I do a careful line drawing from the photos, transfer it to the watercolor paper, and then do a more detailed, freehand drawing, to make sure all the elements work realistically. When my goal is to recreate precise details, I usually work with watercolor, beginning with wet-in-wet washes and gradually building values and details, from light to dark.

I also do some work with fluid acrylics. I recently completed a commissioned painting done with acrylics on a watercolor canvas 36" x 48", gallery wrap. I've done a few other acrylics over the past few year, mostly in a watercolor technique.

In 1999, my watercolor painting of the Colorado Holiday Tree was chosen from a field of four finalists to be used in promotions to raise funds to transport the “Millennium Tree” to Washington D.C. 

I have received several 1^st, 2^nd, 3^rd, and Best of Show/Categories in art shows in Pueblo and Trinidad, Colorado.  In addition, my work has been displayed in competitive shows in Colorado Springs, Denver, Taos, Cheyenne, and Glendale, AZ.  I have been active in supporting the Gallery of the Spanish Peaks Arts Council, in La Veta, Colorado, and I am currently serving as president of that non-profit organization. In 2004, my oil painting “Familiar Landmark” was awarded the Judge’s Choice ribbon by judge Tim Deibler, in the Majestic Colorado show at the art council’s gallery. In 2005 my watercolor "Spanish Peaks" received the Best of Show award from judge Marti Henderson, in the Majestic Colorado show and in the 2006 Majestic Colorado show, 3 of my paintings received awards from judge Nathan Solano.

In addition to solo shows in La Veta, Pueblo, Forbes Park, and Walsenburg, I also had a show, shared with one other artist, at the A.R. Mitchell Museum, in Trinidad, Colorado and at the Koshare Museum in La Junta, Colorado.

I have taught painting and drawing classes, both privately and through local schools.  I find great pleasure in sharing what I know of painting and drawing with others.

For more comments see my page "Notes from Kathy" and also "Spanish Peaks"