Kathie chose the concentration of drawing while seeking a bachelor’s degree in art education/fine arts at The University of Tennessee, Knoxville. This led to her receiving early recognition after graduation in 1981 with an award-winning pastel work for the local Dogwood Arts Festival.
Soon after, Kathie married and began a family… and the pursuit of fine art went into the closet. Yet all employments stayed associated with making/creating. Working in a frame shop, hand crafting Christmas ornaments, sewing wall hangings for a newly constructed condominium project, faux finishing walls, quilting, interior decorating and eventually opening a frame shop in the basement of her home.
The pivotal year of 2003 quietly marked Kathie as she helped care for her mother in the final days of ALS. Betty was a strong and warm-hearted woman who knew the meaning of hard work. As a 44 year-old witnessing the loss of her mother, the challenge to move forward into living a full life was sinking deeper roots into Kathie.
Five years later, with both parents deceased and three children now off at college or beyond, she mentioned to her husband that she wanted to try her hand at oil painting. (She had all the mat boards and glass she could tolerate, which eliminated any interest in watercolors or pastels). Soon enough Buddy found a plein air workshop and gave it to Kathie as a 50th birthday gift.
Summer of 2009 was the season when Kathie picked up a brush to paint oils for the very first time, and it was outside. Since that day she has recognized how painting en plein air impacts how she sees the world and how she applies paint to canvas.
The years that followed included a weekly mentorship back home under artist Jeremy Doss in the mountains of east Tennessee and a few additional workshops. In 2012 an instructor encouraged Kathie to apply for a plein air event, which led to attending three in 2013. At Callaway Gardens, her very first experience in a competition, she received an honorable mention and first place in the Saturday quickdraw.
Gallery interest followed from Atlanta, Knoxville and Cashiers, North Carolina, as well as a feature article in Plein Air magazine. The decision to become a fulltime artist quickly took hold and Kathie embraced several exhibits offered by national organizations as well as offering solo shows through regional gallery representation.
Exposure accelerated and accolades ensued which has allowed her to pour most of the earned revenue back into her pursuit to paint in oils.
Kathie taught her first oil painting workshop in 2015 and has logged over thirty-five additional since then as an instructor, both nationally and internationally. Her 2020 DVD through Streamline Publishing was a #1 top seller and has sold over 1300 copies year to date. Videos #2 and #3 are slated for release, October 2024.
She likes to call herself a “Nostalgic Impressionist” as a way of identifying the subjects and style of painting that interest her most. While traveling the world to paint and exhibit, she looks to paint what she calls a piece of home. Kathie resides with her husband and maintains a studio in the mountains of East Tennessee while dedicating herself to spending much of her time oil painting outdoors.
Associations
Signature Member, Oil Painters of America
Signature Member, American Impressionists Society
Signature Member, Laguna Beach Plein Air Painters Association
Plein Air painters of the SouthEast (PAP-SE)
Gallery Representation
Acosta-Strong Gallery, Santa Fe, New Mexico
Cole Gallery, Edmonds, Washington
Hindes Fine Art, San Antonio, Texas
The District Gallery, Knoxville, Tennessee
Fine Line Designs Gallery, Sister Bay, Wisconsin
Leiper’s Creek Gallery, Leiper’s Fork, Tennessee
Reinert Fine Art, Charleston, South Carolina
The Shaun Horne Gallery, Crested Butte, Colorado