Katrina Weber

Artist's Statement

"Painting, which has been my passion all my life, has led me to a heightened awareness of the beauty all around us. My delight - and my challenge - is to express this beauty through my art. My quest is a continuing exploration of color, the effects of light and atmosphere; of brushstrokes, edges, and shapes. What a fantastic journey....

My goal is to paint in a style which transcends the literal, without losing touch with reality. Often the painting calls me to an impressionistic style; at other times "painterly realism" best describes my work. I have learned much from other painters who have gone before me - I still love the work of European Expressionists and post-Impressionists which first excited me as a teenager -- Cezanne, Van Gogh, and Gauguin. Later I encountered the work of the California Impressionists, the Russian master, Isaak Levitan, the Canadian Group of Seven,  and .... There are so many more, including contemporary painters such as Quang Ho, Richard Schmid and Matt Smith. I study their works, and those of others, and feel that through our shared dedication to this muse, I am a part of this wonderful brotherhood of artists.

Painting outdoors is about as good as it gets. It marries my love of Nature, especially wild places, with my passion for painting. I make frequent forays into the surrounding locale where I live, near the southern end of the Appalachian chain. There is endless inspiration.

"Here on the edge of the river," said Cezanne by the Loire, "the motifs are very plentiful, the same subject seen from a different angle gives a subject for study of the highest interest and so varied that I think I could be occupied for months without changing my place, simply bending a little more to the right or left."

And every year I manage at least one trip to the West, where the mountains, the desert canyons, and the wild forces of nature fill me with wonder and awe. Painting in these great places is an incredible treat.

The outdoor sessions also inform larger studio paintings; and Katrina is equally adept when she turns to still life and figure painting.  Viewing her art as a life-long exploration, she has studied with a number of contemporary masters, including Kenn Backhaus, Quang Ho, Matt Smith, and Hongnian Zhang.

Katrina's work has been shown at numerous venues across the country, and she has received many awards and recognitions. She has held nine solo exhibits and participated in dozens of juried and invitational group shows in the past decade. She was awarded one of four national merit scholarships by Oil Painters of America in 2009, and juried twice into the national "Paint the Parks" traveling exhibit. Her paintings hang in corporate and private collections across the U.S.