"The Porch"
Pastel   40" x 30"
 $5,000 

"Heart Sign"
Pastel   16" x 22"
 $1,850 

"Bear Shadows"
Pastel   22" x 30"
 $3,000 

"Gifts 1"
Pastel   19" x 19"
 $650 

"Prairie Glory"
Pastel    18" x 24"
 $1850 

"Gifts 2"
Pastel   16" x 30"
 $850 

"Fall - Late Afternoon"
Pastel    15" x 16"
 $950

"Mother & Daughter"
Pastel   26 1/2" x 27 1/2"
 $2800 

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 vibrancy and resonance of a rich pastel painting.

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.