Katharine Cartwright

Nest Eggs on Wall Street, 19" x 28"

"I think in pictures and my paintings are my voice," says Katharine Cartwright. "As with speech, the central concept is the most important aspect of what I paint. Without meaning, my paintings would lack relevance and uniqueness." She paints in series and often has several different series going at the same time; a series may include only a dozen paintings, but frequently more, and may take anywhere from a year to a decade to complete. Starting by formulating a concept, she then selects materials, a color palette, and compositions to support her idea. In the series featured here, she has utilized broken egg shells in a manner that bridges realism and abstraction to express the fragility of life and our investments. Because the work is allegorical rather than representational, she disregards realistic color in favor of color strategies that contribute to an effective composition. Katharine has completed over 50 paintings in this series in the past four years and intends to continue it with the goal of incorporating new and meaningful elements with each new step.

All Cracked Up XXI, 28" x 19"

All Cracked Up XXII, 28" x 19"

Katharine's parents encouraged her to become an artist, providing her with a formal education in fine art at Linden Hall School for Girls, Kutztown University, The Maryland Institute College of Art, and The College of Charleston. Trained in techniques for oils and acrylics, she only began using watermedia ten years ago and fell in love with it. She is an inducted member of the National Association of Women Artists and a signature member of the North East Watercolor Society and the Missouri Watercolor Society. Her watercolors have been accepted into numerous national and international juried exhibitions and have won top awards, and her work is included in over one hundred private and corporate collections. In addition, her work will be featured in two books to be published this year -- Best of America Watermedia Artists Volume II and The Artistic Touch 4. Katharine maintains studios in New York and Maine and teaches painting workshops in all media throughout the U.S., with a special focus on concept development.

All Cracked Up XXIII, 28" x 19"

All Cracked Up XXIV, 28" x 19"

Please link over to Katharine's blog to see more of her work and get further information about her workshops. Be sure to link through to her website as well.

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Jane Freeman

Morning Meditation, 17" x 12"

Jane Freeman lives in northern Minnesota where winter can last approximately six months. She observes, “People can get depressed around here when winter begins, but I start to get excited because I know I will have nearly six months of uninterrupted painting! Isn’t that what every artist dreams of?” Because she loves to paint flowers, she grows and photographs most of her subjects during the relatively brief gardening season. She also loves to paint still life setups of things that have personal meaning to her, photographing them during the summer as well to get strong natural light. Painting the things she loves and holds dear gives her the passion and patience she needs to create her very detailed realistic paintings.

She paints in transparent watercolor 90% of the time, only resorting to other materials when a painting has had “bad luck.” Because she does not believe in letting go of a piece and never repeats anything, she has to make each painting work, but she also feels that some of her best work has come out of those struggles to save a piece.

Peony Passion, 20" x 28"

Last Peony Petals, 13" x 21"

Jane earned a BFA at the University of North Dakota but didn't become serious about her art until both children were grown and had left home. She focussed exclusively on watercolors and began competing nationally and internationally in 1999. The author of A Celebration of Light (North Light Books), her work has been included in a number of books, including Splash 7 and 9, and she has been featured in many art magazines over the past ten years. In her words, "I think getting six pages in the American Artist magazine and eight pages in International Artist Magazine made me take myself seriously. Up until then, I kept thinking this was just a fluke and it would pass. I did not believe in myself.

"My life as an artist has surpassed anything I dreamed was possible. This has encouraged me to go deeper and try harder. I hope I am contemplating a new difficult painting when I'm 85. Life is short but my days are long and full of blessings because of watercolor. That is why I love to teach at workshops because if I can turn on that excitement in anyone it is worth everything. To see artists grow and reach their potential is just an amazing feeling. I love my life. Now how great is that?”

Sauced Grapes, 19" x 28"

A Slice of Summer, 20" x 29"

Please visit Jane's blog for more information about her work and also follow her link to her website to see additional paintings.

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