Why am I an Inspired Watercolor Artist?
Welcome to my Artist Statement and why I am an inspired watercolor artist. My artist statement gives you some insights in how my paintings are born and why I am an inspired watercolor artist.
The beginnings of my paintings mostly come from my originally composed photography. In my daily travels as well as when I travel farther from my home in Vermont, my cameras (now my Iphone) are often by my side. The scenes I capture not only show the natural beauty of the composition. Often they have a feeling of peace and serenity. I then take that scene and feeling and transpose it in to my watercolor painting.
The combination of architectural and garden elements delights my senses and of those studying my work. These elements are bought to the forefront with the combination of muted grays and browns of the older houses. I liven these old buildings up with a punch of color in a flower box or rambling rose. These combinations delight me. I have witnessed my paintings producing unexpected feelings provoked by memories of the viewer.
Gardening has been a passion of mine most of my adult life and has been part of my life since I was a small girl in England. Another joy of mine is to decorate our home, in fact I have used these skills professionally. These two talents are married together in my paintings. They are the reason for most of the subject matter in my watercolor paintings.
My work focuses on interesting doorways and other architectural elements of homes and business. I also love the scenic beauty of Vermont and other areas of New England. Nearly all of the paintings also include some kind of flora and even some fauna. This all helps to combine my loves of design and beauty in nature. Some of my paintings also depict scenes from the tropics. I use Arches 140 lb or 300 lb cold pressed watercolor paper using Winsor & Newton watercolor.
New techniques
Recently I have been playing with two new techniques which have been very exciting to me. One is painting with a looser style and creating a finished work with a limited palette. Secondly, I have been dabbling with watercolor and collage which I am having so much fun doing. You can checkout these at the Watercolor Collage page.
Workshops
In the past ten years or so I found teaching and it has become my passion to teach others watercolors and to show them that everyone has an artist inside them crying to get out. I teach my students to see, to really see what they are painting. I run watercolor workshops on a regular basis with many returning artists.
This is my artist statement which helps others understand how I gain inspiration and my creative process.
The Front Porch painting is available for sale in my shop.
