Cathy Cotter-Smith

Professor of Art, Collin County Community College
Watercolor, Drawing I and II
 On-Location Drawing and Watercolor
 

Artist Statement

I have always been drawn to the subjects of nature and of people. I paint on-location and observe the rhythms, textures and colors that I see, allowing the painting to reflect the spirit of the surroundings.  Many of my paintings are influenced by the Texas Hill Country at Ingram, Texas, where I paint the Guadalupe rapids and the white washed rocks and cypress roots.   At times I paint the water realistically, trying to express the emotion of the scene.  Other times I will allow the flow of the paint and the patterns that I see to suggest subjects such as the paintings of women with robes of water.  In the paintings of figural sculptures I used the rhythms of the water as an under-painting to show the textures of granite.  Recently I completed a series of paintings titled “ Cloud of Witnesses, Ancestors in the Faith.”  In these paintings, I depicted friends or family members as the cloud of witnesses who surround me and encourage me in my life.  I have repeated the theme of nature or people many times in my art.  But as a person who enjoys change, I always enjoy the challenge of investigating other subjects or styles of painting.

 

Two quotes from literature that have been meaningful to me are:  “The earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof.”  Psalms 24:1 and “To him who in love of nature holds communion with her visible forms.”  William Cullen Bryant.