Kathleen Willingham

Born and raised in rural Virginia, Kathleen has been creating in the area for most of her life.

Many know and love her as an inspiring art teacher since she taught art in local public schools for forty years. 

However, when she retired, she devoted herself to exploring her own art full-time.  

She says, "As I look back on my years of teaching art to young people and my efforts as an artist, I recognize that I have always searched for creative and meaningful learning experiences for myself as well as my students.   I find that I have many visual statements to make. I constantly search for new outlets of expression and ways to develop my artistic growth. For this reason, I challenge myself by seeking opportunities to move in different directions with my work." 

Kathleen notes that her first love has always been painting abstractly and that she periodically returns to this with a variety of intent and media.  Her abstractions emphasize color relationships, textures and movement in acrylic and mixed media. 

Despite her love of abtract composition, Kathleen works to capture the subtle and dramatic play of light and shadow through her landscape paintings.  She is especially passionate about painting  en plein air.

"I enjoy being outdoors and I love the challenge that is afforded when the conditions of nature change.  Most of my landscapes are local scenes and places that I visit on occasion.  I usually paint my plein air landscapes with a palette knife because I love working with the creamy texture of the oil paint and pushing it around with a knife," she says.

Her most recent landscapes, however, are in soft pastel. She not only appreciates the portability of pastels, but she welcomes the textures and moods that can be created with the manipulation of pastels on a variety of substrates.

In addition, Kathleen devotes considerable creative effort to the exploration of still life.  Given her love of plein air, it isn't surprising that many of her still life paintings are created in an outdoor setting.

With her willingness to tackle a variety of subject material through numerous mediums and styles, Kathleen demonstrates her lifelong love of learning.  Even though she is publically applauded as a master artist, she continues to take classes and workshops.  

Her fans will find her work not only at home at Brush Strokes but also in extensive juried shows as well as several regional galleries.

Currently Available through Brush Strokes Gallery!

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