Oasis Art Gallery - Carol J. McKinney

"A watercolorist for over thirty years I now
pursue my art full time having retired from
teaching elementary school for thirty five
years. Although my art encompasses a broad
range of images, much of my inspiration
comes from the verdant beauty of my native
Seattle and the Pacific Northwest and so
many of my images capture the splendor of
the nature that surrounds us. The result of
this universality is that my art serves to invite,
not intimidate. In the winter of 2004-2005, I
spent several months in Florence studying
with watercolorist Marina Buchierri at the
Laborarte of the Associazione di Arte e
Cultura and individually with Florentine
watercolorist Lucia Ghiotto. I have exhibited
in Washington, Massachusetts and California
for over 10 years. Initially I sold only original
work, but in recent years I have produced
limited edition prints of my most popular
paintings, as well as a line of greeting and note
cards. I personally oversee the production of
these prints and cards in order to assure their
quality. They are printed on 100% cotton rag
Fabriano papers in order to maintain the look
and feel of the original watercolor. Watercolor
has always been my preferred medium. I
have always been fascinated by its
transparency...allowing light to be
transformed as it travels to the paper and is
bounced back to our eye. Its greatest allure,
however, is that watercolor is as unpredictable
as Nature itself. When I begin a painting, my
initial vision of the literal is soon transformed
by the process into the unexpected and often,
it is the mood created by the light or the
asymmetry of a blossom that becomes the
focus. Thus, the result for me is often that
which I hope to convey in my painting; the
familiar when truly observed, becomes the
extraordinary."