Katie is a naïve abstract artist located in Clarkston, WA, USA. She is new to painting as a serious hobby; beginning her painting experimentation in February of 2019. Although she has not been painting for a long time, her art has been a focal outlet most of her life. She grew up having the luxury to create whenever she pleased; her parents leaped at chances to enroll her in local art classes and she won several art contests in grade school. However, she never considered art as a serious endeavor. For her, art was a natural coping skill she gravitated towards to bring relaxation, grounding, and happiness into her life. As she grew older she found herself being less creative as her focus shifted to the stressors of adulthood and finding her way in the world. It was only at twenty-four years-old that she went out on a whim to rediscover this deeply embedded passion for creativity and expression.
This time around, there was a major difference in her thought-process in regards to art. In the past she would be creating based on an already existing image or idea, or be given a goal to achieve or be told what she needed to create. When she began painting in 2019, she released herself from all of those expectations. She wanted to see what would happen if she just picked out some colors, based on her mood or the emotions she was feeling, and essentially throw them on a canvas. The initial result was “Into the Woods,” the first of many paintings to come from this new technique. After that first piece she remembers taking a step back and being completely invigorated to continue painting via this process. In a matter of four months she produced about twenty paintings – varying in color, size, and intensity. The fire had been lit and she refused to let it go out.
For the most part, her work doesn’t have much direction – and that is purposeful. When she begins a painting she is always unsure of what the outcome will be until she feels she has reached that point. The only direction she allows herself is color and feeling. Katie subconsciously (and consciously) correlates color to a myriad of aspects in her life whether it be emotions, dreams, gut-feelings, ideas, auras, behaviors, events, people, places, things, etc. So when she picks up the brush and dips it into paint, she tries to focus on the present and what that feels like as colors. You will see in her work the varying degrees of this – some pieces are brighter and light-hearted, while others are dark and harsh and may invoke a sense of dread, doom, or sadness to some. Again, this is purposeful and a direct link to Katie’s inner thoughts and feelings.
As an artist, Katie’s goals are to connect with others through her work, improve her technique, and expand her horizons artistically. In a world so full of hatred, greed and chaos it is essential to foster positive connections, and she believes she can achieve that through sharing her paintings. Not only is Katie’s work an inner reflection of herself, but also an inner reflection of others each time they share their interpretations of her work. This sense of connected-ness through color and thought is a primary motivation to her in continuing her artistic exploration and further discussions around shared experiences.
