cathy whitehead

Artist Statement

Catherine Whitehead is an award winning plein air painter. Her oil paintings are done primarily out outdoors with minimal touches in the studio.

My studio is outdoors. I see a painting in every direction! Nature has so much beauty to offer. For me, plein air painting is exhilarating. I love the energy and spontaneity that translates into the work. The whole experience is invigorating the sunshine, rain, shivering in the cold, and sweating in the heat. I get bug bites, sunburn, and occasionally the wind makes off with my canvas. I’ve been pelted with hail, blasted with sand, and I have been completely delighted to see the first snow fly. The sound of moving water is so peaceful and calming. I can feel electricity in the air before a storm. I appreciate the smell of decaying leaves, ocean air, and fresh-cut alfalfa. I’m aware of distant laughing and children playing, as well as the crack of a baseball hitting a bat. All of my senses are stimulated. Plein air painting is truly a spiritual and humbling experience.
While standing quietly, I observe things I would not have otherwise seen, such as a great blue heron standing like a statue waiting for his prey, a bass leaping from a pond, a giant bull frog. I’ve observed bear, coyotes, and buffalo. But best of all are the secret moments between people, lovers, parents and children, or best friends.
The culmination of this experience is what I hope to translate into in my artwork. Nature has a way of attaching itself to the canvas. The beach paintings get sand in them; It is unavoidable. The autumn scene may have an imprint where a blowing leaf hit. The paintings I create in the sweltering heat of a summer evening have tiny bugs between the layers. When I look at my sunflower piece, I’m reminded of the moment it started to rain because there is a drop on the oil. I feel these accidental elements make the paintings extra special. When I work in watercolor, I use water from the stream or lake that I am painting. This is a little secret of mine; it’s invisible to others but I know it is there. I like the idea that a part of that lake is physically in the painting. So my plein air paintings are not just what I see. They truly harbor the DNA of the scene.
“Catherine Whitehead”