Saturday, April 2, 2011

New Landscapes by Catherine Freshley

Untitled - by Catherine Freshley
22" x 30" 


Untitled -- by Catherine Freshley
 15" x 30"


Untitled -- by Catherine Freshley
18" x 24"


Untitled -- by Catherine Freshley
 15" x 30"


We're doing a little celebrating this month as our daughter, Catherine, has just hung her first solo show at Picabu Neighborhood Bistro in Spokane, Washington.  "Northwest Landscapes: The Pacific to the Palouse" includes twelve paintings comprising scenes from a pristine estuary, the Willamette valley and Cascade range in Oregon, and the grasslands of eastern Washington.   Here is an excerpt from Catherine's artist statement for the show:

"I have been fortunate to live the first couple decades of my life in places of particular natural beauty; whether that helped spawn my deep appreciation for place and home, or I have such a feeling for the water, the land and the sky because of it, I am not sure. For quite some time I wrote about the places that are important to me – attempting to recreate them, and preserve them as I know them, with words. While I have always been making art, it is only in the past year or so that I have taken to recreating these places (and some equally pretty, but less personally significant places) visually.

This interest in painting landscapes arose as a surprise to me, and suddenly, after driving across the country from New Orleans to Spokane. It started with a slightly blurry photo of a farm in Montana – taken one handed, eyes somewhere between focused on the road ahead and totally absorbed by the setting sun slinking across the backs of some cows and a low pond."                     

If you're in the area, stop by the Bistro to take a peek.  You can also find Catherine's work on her flickr site and in her Etsy shop.

It's been a lovely, "squally" day in Portlandia.  I managed to find visual inspiration while travelling through suburbia to get to the Department of Environmental Quality vehicle test station.  I saw gorgeous stands of bare poplar trees against an equally gorgeous sky; and a bonus stand of tall, dried cattails in a large wetland area.  A single red-winged blackbird stood sentry on the tip of one of the spent blooms; its form and colors in sharp contrast to the textures and subtleties of the browned cattails. Such a feast for my eyes!

Happy Saturday!!


6 comments:

Catherine said...

Thank you so much for such a nice post! I look forward to celebrating in person. Your recent monoprints are very nice. Keep going!

annamaria potamiti said...

Congratulations!! What a lovely mother daughter art team! xx

Julie Whitmore Pottery said...

What wondeful, wide open and crisp paintings.
julie

ELFI said...

très beau!

Gloria Freshley Art and Design said...

Catherine...Looking forward to seeing the paintings in person and celebrating with you! Cheers!

Annamaria, Julie and Elfi...Thanks so much for your nice comments!! Best...Gloria

betsy best-spadaro said...

what beautiful landscapes! i've always loved a big sky.