Next Show: Cafe Soriah
Eugene, OR

Visit my BLOG or FACEBOOK PAGE for current work.      

I belong to Purely Pastel Artists, a group of like minded dust makers in the lower Willamette Valley. 
  Click here for the Purely Pastel Artists website.

I am working on still lifes in my studio, painting
 the gray away between practice stints on my ukulele.

Currently showing at Corvallis Good Samaritan Hospital in the Main Hall.
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 Kate will show still life and landscape paintings at Cafe Soriah in Eugene Oregon from July 15 to August 30.
  That is a great reason to eat out at one of Eugene's best restaurants!
384 W 13th Ave.  Eugene
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The NWPS International Juried Show at the 
American Art Company gallery in Tacoma, WA 
will feature Sunflowers for Jane from May 4 to June 15, 2013.
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Soggy was juried into ArtWorks NW at the 
Umpqua Valley Art Association in Roseburg.  
The show, featuring Oregon artists in all mediums, 
will be up from May 10 to June 28.
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Corvallis Art Guild Clothesline Sale of Art
August 3rd, 2013

               VIVID PASTELS by AWARD WINING ARTIST

My pastel landscapes are of real and imagined places. Each painting is an experiment to express an idea about place and atmosphere. They are painted pretty quickly, over a day or two, and many do not succeed. I am not patient but I am persistent.

I go back to the same places to paint over and over again to record the weather, the quality of light, the reflection of water, the growth of grasses; all the changes in a place over time. Familiarity breeds understanding and a focused sense of the place so that I can express its fundamental nature simply.

I also paint from memory, reentering places I have visited in the past. These imaginings are strong images distilled as designs as well as places. I often work over old, failed, pieces that peek through, influencing the new layers of pastel, a bit of a surprise. The sanded paper and fixative spray allow for layer upon layer of pastel, glazes of color that aren't muddy. The large blocky pastels I use don't lend themselves to fine detail.

I have always drawn and painted. Growing up in a busy family with five kids that valued creativity in all the arts, I was the designated visual artist. Later, I chose a landscape architecture career that honed my designer's eye and drawing skills. Those years of creating three dimensional spaces, designing with shadow, sunlight, color and texture, naturally inspired my passion for painting landscapes.

When I turned 50, my children grown, I decided to put in my 10,000 hours to master pastel painting. Now, some years later, I've participated in many juried shows, solo shows and group shows and have even been published in a national magazine. I quit my day job and became a full time artist when I fell in love and moved to the King's Valley in the Coast Range of Oregon, near Corvallis, several of years ago.