Sunday, December 16, 2012

Catherine Mix, Pastelist Extraordinaire!


Catherine Mix

Catherine is our most recent addition to the Sequim Arts Studio Tour and is also this year's Tour Director. 

As a pastelist, I can truly appreciate Catherine's fine pastels. This artist brings a strong color sense as well as a love of the beautiful Olympic Peninsula which has been a source of inspiration for her lovely landscapes. Caherine paints a wide variety of subjects from landscapes to figures and still life and also works in watercolor. She has an incredible studio located on her property surrounded by beautiful flowers and gardens. Catherine would love to have your visit her in her studio this summer during the tour.

I'll be posting more about Catherine and the other tour artists as we draw closer to the tour dates. Here's a note from the artist.
"Blue Pumpkin"

"This 5" x 7" painting took about 6 hours start to finish and I created it especially for our upcoming Sequim Arts Small Works Show which opens at the Museum and Art Center beginning on December 5th. I hope you get a chance to come to the show!!"

"From 1968-1972 I pursued a degree in fine metals at the University of Washington. For several years I continued forging and forming silver, gold and copper and making fine jewelry with cloisonné enameling on sterling silver.

"In 1995 I began studying watercolor in workshops with Cathe Gill and Judith McNea who also introduced me to pastel painting.

"These days, I paint in both watercolor and pastel. It is my goal to capture a singularly beautiful moment in time, such as dramatic sunlight illuminating the vast vistas of North Olympic Peninsula.  I paint to revel in color and texture,  for the satisfaction of solving a complex problem, for joy of creating an original work of art.

"I hope you enjoy my work; you can read my complete biography and see more of my work at www.catherinemix.com"

Wednesday, December 12, 2012

Tour Artist Susan Martin Spar

As the blog master, it is my privilege to be the first artist to publish on our Studio Tour blog. My name is Susan Spar and this will be my fourth year on the tour. Locals know me as the "classical" artist who paints "those Dutch type" paintings. While this is partly true, I also love painting landscapes and working in pastels.

I've been working on allegorical pieces of late featuring such figures as "Red Riding Hood" and "Sleeping Beauty". I see this figures as allegories for bigger issues that we confront in our lives. In Red Riding Hood, the question arises, "just where or who is the wolf" and in "Sleeping Beauty", the issue is about the ambivalence surrounding adulthood for adolescents.  

"Red Riding Hood"


For those of you who are interested in the beautiful landscape of the Olympic Peninsula, I have some plein aire paintings to offer. Take a gander. Come and visit me this summer and look for more posts about me on this blog.

"A Sultry Afternoon"