The pleasure of painting for me lies in the direct expressive relationship between the marks of the brush and the structure of the form, while creating the illusion of light and atmosphere.
While I have painted since I was a child it was my increased fascination with birds that led me into the world of fine art in my 30s. My first BFA came in Graphic Design from Carnegie-Mellon, 1974-1978.
The celebration of the abstract qualities of watercolor applied to paper and the resulting mark making remain the intuitive, driving force behind the development of my work. My paintings ultimately become as much about the subject as they are about the play of paint. Painting is a sensual passion for me, taking me out of the world of words and into a world of color and form.
From 1985-1990, I studied Painting and Drawing at the University of Utah and received a second BFA. During that time period I also taught myself to draw birds from life through a scope.
My intuitive fascination with birds rests primarily on my love of their elegance, color and strangeness. There is also my intense awareness that birds are, as Henry Beston said, “gifted with extensions of the senses we have lost or never attained.” One such sense is their ability to migrate thousands of miles without a GPS.
Birds are inextricably connected to their environment and the remaining fragments of wildness. This is my inspiration.
Click here to view all classes currently offered with instructor Kimberly Roush.