Kathleen Cook
Kathleen Cook, a native Texan born
in Amarillo, has been working in pastel for 35 years and is an elected
signature member of the Pastel Society of America. After
earning a BFA degree from Texas Tech University, her professional art
career includes 14 years as a fashion illustrator and advertising art
director. Since 1981, and a move to Kerrville, she has been a
full-time painter and frequent teacher.
Kathleen is a painter of light and
color and is known for her sensitive, accurate portrait and figure
paintings as well as her beautifully composed still-life work.
"I am a realist painter, but
in the modern approach. Though I am fascinated by the skill
necessary to capture people and things as they really are, from this
academic foundation of accuracy, I strive to reach beyond the obvious
to give my paintings a fresh, unexpected point of view.
The subject in my paintings are
recognizable and often common everyday things, but through the use of
unusual combinations of objects, asymmetrical compositions, dramatic
perspectives and strong light and shadows, I like to create magical environments
that produce a sense of mystery and give the viewer the impression of
having "happened upon" a strange scene that we are
not normally allowed to observe.
My paintings explore a diverse
array of emotions and moods, some dark and somber, others light and
whimsical; but in all, I invite the viewer to "Come with me
into this little world. Let me show you what delights,
intrigues, mystifies and moves me...perhaps we will be kindred
spirits."
Due to my continual involvement
with the figure, I use the Pastel medium almost exclusively.
Though I occasionally use other media, I prefer Pastel because of its
amazing versatility in capturing the luminosity of flesh.
Indebted to the depth and purity of the Pastel pigment, I am able to
achieve the
Kathleen Cook's art has been
featured in American Artist, Southwest Art and Pastel Highlights magazines
and has won numerous national and international awards, including the
Grand Prize in the Pastel Artist International Magazine world
competition in 2001. Kathleen is included in the Bowker Edition of
Who's Who in American Art.
To see a larger image of the
painting, just "click" on
the painting!
