Artist Statement

 

 

 

I am best described as a Contemporary Expressive Colorist, whose favorite part about painting is using color to create emotional meaning and visual depth. In choosing what to paint or how to paint it, I want my pictures to be more than the reality of description, and I strive to fill viewers with a sense of joy. Inspired by Matisse, my goal is to paint what it feels like, not what it looks like. I love to listen to all different kinds of music as I paint - it helps me to show how the movement and interaction of colors and shapes feels like the rhythm and pulse of music and dancers. 

 

An interesting question I am often asked is, “where do your ideas come from?” To that I respond, from everything around me and the world I live in. I paint the things I see and feel everyday - even when it looks made up,  it is based in reality. I try to find a story within a scene that is engaging. I look for wonderful possibilities of color and for ways to use exciting shapes and textures. 

 

 

 

 

My special talent is that I am a problem solver, and I sure know how to create lot of problems artistically! My creativity is sparked when I am  uncomfortable with something and have to figure out how to fix it so that everything will be OK again. Consequently I am very adventurous with color and composition, knowing that each new obstacle in front of me will have an amazing solution if I can only figure it out.  My father was an electrical engineer, who worked for NASA, sending the first men into space and to the moon using a slide-rule. I must have gotten this creative problem solving aspect of my nature from him! 

 

The natural world of animals and landscapes are my favorite subject matter.  I think about my environment and the animals that share my world and I want to show them in a joyful integrated space. I love the feeling I get when I’m surrounded by nature. I’m fascinated by organic shapes, inspired by the feel of the wind and intrigued by how movement makes light dance in patterns of warm and cool. The night sky draws me in and the idea that looking at the light of stars is looking back in time thrills me. In order to express these emotions and ideas, I use brush-stroke marks to show the lines of energy I feel coming off  living shapes, spreading and combining throughout all aspects of nature.

 

Emotionally, the focus of my current work is to capture a joyful sense of reality by representing the color and drama of a place through gesture and brush stroke, color and composition.  I want all the elements to work together to become something that has more feeling and meaning than all the pieces separately. Intellectually, I am interested in the way we change our environment and the way our behavior affects each other through interaction and observation.  I want to show how things are related to the space they occupy. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“Thank you so much for...expressing your feelings in color so we can feel your spirit in your artwork. It is such a treasure to finally have one of your wonderful creations

in our house.” 

Tali and Tony Barbosa, CA

 

 

 

 

 

Learning and research are exciting to me. I like to discover and integrate new things into my life and my paintings.  I often find new subjects through travel; visiting museums, galleries and reading art history books. I do a lot of drawing and painting in watercolor sketchbooks. One of my favorite places of inspiration continues to be the garden I created at my home in Escondido, CA. I was inspired by a visit to Monet’s garden in Giverny to create an outdoor area to paint.  The garden  is high on a hill overlooking a lake, surrounded by mountains and inland valleys, and has many wonderful animal visitors with an ever changing display of beautiful stories.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“...your artwork is a beautiful reminder to slow down and view and feel the beauty around us.  Thank you for helping to make our house a lovely, warm and welcoming home.”  

Jill Pfeiffer & Neil Meyer, CA

 

 

 

 

 

When I am inspired by a place, I take photos, paint on location, and keep journals. I do lots of drawings in a technique called blind contour, which  leads to wonderful distortions but also to surprisingly coherent images. I am increasingly intrigued by how my blind contour drawings capture a scene and have come to rely on them when building a composition. I collect everything I have into the studio, and study it to see what stories will emerge. Due to my many years as a graphic designer, I have expert skills  using the computer to scan in my drawings and  create my compositions.  This enables me to change sizes and proportions effortlessly and layer different drawings together. Once I have the exact image I want, I use a projector to get the drawings proportionally scaled up to the size of my canvas, without losing any of the natural feel of the original blind contour drawings. I paint my drawings onto museum quality linen canvases that are coated first in gold gesso. Using broken brush-strokes to build up my paint over many layers, allows the gold to shine through. The gold makes a wonderful warm glow surrounding the other colors, and also acts as a unique color.

 

My sense of composition came from observing Monet’s paintings, where I began using opposing diagonals to energize my compositions. In order to lead the viewers eye through my painting, I create these diagonal lines using a trail of a similar color, or using an actual line on an object or group of objects that move in a straight or perhaps curving diagonal, like an “S”. I also use brush-strokes in the shape of an “S” to activate the space.

 

 

 

“It is rich and deep, full of color and intrigue, and I take it into my dreams...” 

Karen Lane, CA

 

 

 

 

 

 

Other artists and collectors ask me how I get such rich color. My secret is that I pair opposites to create a pulse within the space. I pair patterned and flat decorative space with atmospheric perspective to contrast the sense of space in the painting.  By using opposites in temperature, value and saturation next to each other, I energize the colors to sing in their own spotlight. Inspired by Van Gogh, my brush-strokes are another way I energize an area. When I’m painting I imagine I’m writing in a  language, and make strokes that resemble letters - sometimes I use actual words as hidden messages in a painting. 

 

Art is a communication.  I like to tell stories with my paintings to capture the imagination of the viewer.  My continuing goal is to continue to dig deeper into my psyche and soul to uncover universal truths about what it means to be human and alive at this time of world history. The underlying story I want to tell is that all matter vibrates with the energy of consciousness, and we are all connected through beauty and love. I feel it is my mission in life to bring joy to as many people as I can, through my art.

 

 

Biography

Communicating the Spirit of Joy

Cathy Carey’s paintings express an essential connection of all things through a joyous spirit. As an accomplished oil painter, Carey works in a unique version of a contemporary color expressionist style. She tells her stories of exhilarating joy using gestural brush strokes, vivid color and rhythmic compositions.  

 

 

Originally from Virginia, Carey spent most of her childhood outdoors.  As she recalls, “my parents lived in Alexandria VA, a few miles down the Potomac River from Mount Vernon. I spent my childhood roaming the shores of the Potomac, finding treasures along the banks and building forts in the woods of the area that was George Washington’s hunting grounds. My fondest memories are of playing with the neighbors’ dog, Sandy.   The two of us would lay in the cool dirt under bushes in the summertime, and patrol the neighborhood visiting favorite fields and creeks, playing fetch and chase. She was my best friend and would walk me to the school bus stop everyday and be waiting for me when I returned. The feeling of connection I felt with Sandy is part of every important relationship I have had ever since.”

 

“Sandy” waiting for me in my painting “The Long Wait”

 

 

 

From a young age Carey painted and drew images from her imagination and illustrated stories that she wrote. “When I was 6 years old in second grade, we were doing an art project where I was making a clown face with pastels. It was really colorful and I was working on it on the floor, at 22” x 30” it was too big for a desk. When it came time to stop and have a spelling test, the teacher let me continue painting instead. I knew at that moment, painting is what I had to do.” Carey’s parents were very supportive of her artistic abilities. “I remember when I was about 13 my Mom let me hang my paintings in The Rainbow Tree - a head shop out on Route One. The guy that ran the store really liked my paintings and told my Mom I had a great imagination and the best thing I could do would be to get formal training so nothing could hold back my ideas.”

 

 

 

In pursuit of that training, Carey attended the Corcoran School of Art in Washington DC and then received a BFA in Painting and Print Making from Virginia Commonwealth University. “The first day of Art Foundation at VCU, the teacher came around and had us show a piece from our portfolios. As he went around the class, he told each kid they had to loosen up. When he got to me, he paused and said - Carey, you need to tighten up.”’  In that same freshman class, Carey did a Blind Contour of a model that made such an impression on her, that she continues using blind contour today as a basis for her paintings.

 

 

“I paint what it feels like

 

or what I want it to be,

 

not what it looks like.”

 

 

After graduating from VCU, Carey realized she would need to do something to make a living, so she began a complementary artistic career in the design and printing industries. After working at a silk screen factory, a printing company, a large advertising agency and Circuit City as a graphic designer and illustrator, she moved to California to work as an Art Director for a newspaper group. Carey says “that was the best job I ever had, it was instant gratification! I would do a painting in the afternoon and see it in the paper the next day! It was also a good fit for my work habits, I like having lots of projects and pieces I’m working on, they all feed off each other. Designing a logo was like figuring out a puzzle, and those years were a great boon to my skills and painting style.”  From working on fast food banners at the silk screen company, Cathy learned how to work on large scale canvases. At the printing company she honed her skills with a large format camera and became expert at unusual croppings and composition. While at the advertising agency and Circuit City she came up with ways to generate ideas quickly and developed a great skill at pen and ink illustrations. All her lessons and skills came to fruition at the newspaper where she learned to deliver a creative idea on a deadline and hold a fast paced work ethic.

 

 

One of the things that sets Cathy apart from other artists is her intense drive for accomplishment, quick thinking and problem solving, and her limitless imagination. Carey was at the beginning of the desk top publishing era, and started her own design studio, Elements Graphic Design, where those qualities served her well over the next twenty years.  Also during this time she was painting, entering shows and teaching painting classes at night through Adult Education programs. While that sounds like a lot to keep anyone busy, it is particularly astonishing when some other parts of Cathy Carey’s background are factored in.

 

“I love the feel of paint on canvas and paper, 

the feeling of mixing wet paint, 

watching the colors emerge as if by magic.”

 

When she was ten years old she was badly injured in a car accident and has total amnesia about the event. The right side of her face was crushed and had to be repaired through many years of reconstructive surgeries. To say this affected her childhood is obvious, but the direction in which it took her life is quite amazing. Carey relates, “it was during that experience that my artistic brain took over and I began to re-invent my world to be of my own imagining. In every way I could, I determined to choose my own thoughts in spite of the external influences. I felt that negative experience was like rocket fuel to my spirit, and I was able to lift off into the realm of infinite possibilities. I thought that if something that awful and unexpected could happen out of the blue, then an opposite and wonderful  experience was just as possible. I began to dream the impossible dream of being able to share with the world my artistic vision.“ 

 

 

From that experience, Cathy learned many years later, she suffered recurring post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) from the severe brain trauma. This contributed to an autoimmune condition that eventually kept Carey from working outside the home. This would stop a lot of people in their tracks, but Carey immediately went out and purchased a computer on her credit card and became self employed, starting Elements Graphic Design. “Back in 1990 not many people were self employed or had a computer, it was both very exciting and terrifying to launch myself onto the waters of financial insecurity. Luckily, I am a hard worker and I did well. It also still allowed me to paint, show my work and teach art classes, because my hours were my own - I could work on computer stuff in the middle of the night if I needed.”

 

Always working in the art world, today Carey devotes all her time to being a professional fine artist. While busy, the life she has created is enviable. She and her husband travel to places she wants to paint, and she takes photos, does sketches and maintains journals of her experiences and impressions, which  she turns into new series of paintings back home in her studio. One of her journeys was to Monet’s garden in Giverny. “I took a great workshop where the students were able to go into the gardens with the gardeners before and after the tourists. I was able to paint alone in the garden. Once, at the foot of the famous Wisteria       bridge, I smelled cigarette smoke and while concentrating on my painting thought how horrible it was that one of the gardeners was ruining the ambiance by smoking. Later at the workshop communal dinner, I was telling my story and our host, (who had been friends with the Monet family), said; ‘that was Monet, you were painting in his favorite spot and he was a chain smoker.’ ” 

 

When Carey returned from Giverny, she decided to recreate an artists’ garden like Monet had done, a place where she could design gardens to paint and share the environment with other artists. She and her husband, Brian Sinofsky, bought a house in Escondido with room for a half acre garden on top of one of the highest hills, with incredible views all around. Many of Carey’s paintings draw inspiration from her whimsical succulent garden, where a family of coyotes roam, and quail, owls and all sorts of fascinating creatures live.

 

 

Carey has a dedicated work ethic.  She says, “my goal is to complete five large paintings a month as well as other smaller paintings and projects. I dedicate time to work in sketch books as well as making notes and writing my ideas down in journals. All this helps feed the creative furnace that is always burning bright inside me. I find that there is always another idea in my mind. Sometimes the problem is trying to figure out which way to go or what to do first.”  An inquisitive inclination and creative drive  has always been a part of Carey’s life. “I love the feel of paint on canvas and paper, the feeling of mixing wet paint, watching the colors emerge as if by magic. When I was just learning to walk, my Mom said that when she would be out of the room for a moment I would climb the cabinets in the kitchen and get out anything I could grab, liquids, coffee, flour, etc and pour them all on the floor and mix it all together with my hands. This tactile feeling of creation has stayed with me. I also feel I have stories to tell, that something in my spirit wants to gather everyone around, and tell a tale.” 

 

 

Carey’s paintings take place in an alternate reality. She heightens color, dramatizes, blows some things all out of proportion and minimizes other details in order to create a mood.  She describes her paintings as images from a beautiful experience that is now gone, and all that remains is the memory.  She rarely paints finished paintings on location, but acquires impressions and feelings at the place through sketches or plein air pieces and allows the rest of the details to percolate into memory. “That way I find I have to make up parts, I’m not  just copying something I saw, but rather reliving something I felt. I paint landscapes because I love the feeling I get when I’m surrounded by nature and I’m fascinated by organic shapes. I’m inspired by the feel of the wind and how the movement it makes causes the light to dance in patterns of warm and cool. I am drawn to the night sky and the idea that looking at the light of stars is looking back in time.”

 

One of Carey’s passions is helping animals of all kinds. Twice yearly she opens her studio and garden for tours that benefit the San Diego Humane Society and Project Wildlife. “I love animals. Through knowing my dogs I came to realize and believe that all animals have the same feelings and moods as we do. They are soul spirits in different bodies. I noticed I was able to capture the “person-ality” of animals by doing blind contour drawings.” Carey has developed a unique style, using techniques she’s mastered over many years. The artists explains, “when I would find a technique that resonated, I packed it into my style suitcase and kept doing it. I use a lot of blind contour drawings, meaning I don’t look at the paper while I’m drawing, so I’m often surprised by what I capture on the paper. I feel it is a more intuitive approach, I strip away my thoughts and swim deep into my feelings. Another part of my technique is to paint my canvas metallic gold before I begin. I layer colors, and allow them to show through by using broken brush strokes. I make sweeping gestural strokes, while listening to wonderful music to show the energy and emotion of life.”

 

 

Carey has been inspired by several major artists, Claude Monet, Vincent Van Gogh, Henri Matisse and Gustov Klimt. From studying Monet’s work, she learned about color theory and composition, and how to use broken brush strokes to create a lacy structure for under-layers to show through. Van Gogh’s influence taught her how to use gestural brush strokes to energize and activate her paintings to feel like the movement of life. Looking at Matisse and researching him, she learned how to manipulate the idea of space on the illusion of a flat surface, and alternate between decorative surface color and atmospheric perspective to create depth. Varying between these two types of surface treatments creates a “push-pull” of space, that she also learned from her teachers at VCU, who were Abstract Expressionists. The exciting use of gold employed by Klimt inspired her to use gold as an under-painted first layer in all her paintings.

 

There is a rythmic movement in Carey’s paintings that she attributes to one of her favorite past times, swing dancing. “I really see the rhythm of music as if it is a tangible thing, and I seek to capture that vision in my work. I listen to music of all kinds, compose the shapes, and dance my brush strokes to the tempo of music.”

 

 

For Cathy Carey, art is a communication. “I feel it is my mission in life to bring happiness and joy through my art to as many people as I can. I add something of my soul to every painting, so that when someone looks at my artwork long after I’m dead, some enmeshed part of my spirit is gazing back, saying “be of good cheer”. I am communicating through my work that we are all connected through beauty and love.” 

 

 

 

 

Resume

Style

Cathy Carey works in a unique version of a Contemporary Color Expressionist style. Her paintings express an essential connection of all things through a joyous spirit. As an accomplished oil painter, she tells her stories of exhilarating joy using gestural brush strokes and vivid color, where the pulse of music and sway of dancers are seen in her rhythmic compositions. She works on traditional stretched linen canvas, using a ground of gold gesso that creates a warm shimmer of light that emanates from within.

EDUCATION

Corcoran School of Art, Washington, D.C. 

Virginia Commonwealth University, BFA, Painting and Printmaking, National Dean’s List - 4 years

 

EMPLOYMENT

• Professional Artist

• The Glass House Art Studio - 

• Art Institute of CA in San Diego - Instructor Color Theory

• Elements Graphic Design - Self-employed designer and illustrator

 

Gallery Representation 

• La Playa Gallery - La Jolla, CA

• InArt Gallery - Santa Fe, NM

• Wilde Meyer Gallery - Scottsdale & Tucson, AZ

• The Ranch at Taos - Taos, NM

• Escondido Municipal Gallery - CA

• Gallery 363 - Escondido, CA

 

SOLO EXHIBITIONS 

• The Ranch at Taos Gallery "Vivid New Mexico"  October 2015

• Encinitas City Hall “Vivid Views”and 

• E Gallery 101 “Colorful California” Encinitas, CA February -June 2015

• La Playa Gallery January 2015 solo show

• The Poway Performing Arts Center, Poway, CA: September 2014, “Cathy Carey - Living Color”

• Arroyo Gallery, 200 Canyon Road, Santa Fe, NM: January 2013, “Vivid New Mexico”

• Fairmount El Corazon, SantaFe NM, 

January - July 2013, “Vivid New Mexico”

• UBS Corporate Offices Rancho Bernardo, CA: 2011, 2012 Current Work

• Escondido Municipal Gallery - Escondido, CA:  June 2011 Travels in Spain

• Elfin Forest Interpretive Center - Escondido, CA:  Sept-Nov 2010

Expressions of the Elfin Forest

• Cathy Carey Gallery - Encinitas, CA: 

Solo gallery of 1,000 sq ft of display area 2006 - 2008

• Shiva Artistic Collections Escondido, CA. Featured shows: Maui Meditations - 2006, Tuscany - 2007

• Rock Island Gallery - Coronado, CA

Featured shows:  Maui Flowers 2007

Giverny - 2006, California Dream - 2005

• East West Gallery - La Costa, CA: 

Featured show: Venice & Italy  2005

• Escondido Artists Gallery, Escondido, CA Solo Show September 2003

• Poway Library, Poway, CA - 

2003 Solo show -Pastels

• Mission Trails Regional Park - San Diego, CA - 2002 Solo show -

 Impressions of Mission Trails

• Art Studio Tour - 2002 - present

April and December

 

Group Shows 1999 - 2015

 

San Diego County Fair 2015 - Special Award for "Yogi's World" from Creative Catalyst

Peoples Choice Award for "Spring Stride"

Vista Library Group Show “North County Painters”

Oceanside Museum of Art - in Del Mar Annex - juried show Fall 2014

La Playa Gallery -  July 2015 "Surf Culture", June 2014 “Summer Solstice” La Jolla CA,

Elfin Forest Interpretive Center - Four Artists Summer 2014

Front Porch Gallery - June 2014

Escondido Municipal Gallery - various ongoing

Las Lagunas Gallery- “For Every Season” Cahuilla Totems - 4/14 Lagna Beach CA

2014 Southern California/Baja Norte  Regional Exhibition - San Diego Art Institute - “Runaway Day”

The Ranch at Taos,  July 2013 - current

Gallery 104, July 2013 - current

Arroyo Gallery, 200 Canyon Road, Santa Fe “Tapas” 4 person show Spanish Market 2012 , “Botanica” 2012

• San Diego Botanical Garden - August 2010, 2012 “Garden Expressions”

• Escondido Municipal Gallery (EAP) - ongoing 2004 - present

Awards from EAP

Honorable Mention for Quail Family “Perfect World” September 2015

First Place for Avian Observatory “Contemporary Realism” July 2015

Honorable Mention for Ocean Air “Contemporary Realism” July 2015

“Food for Thought” February 2015

Third Place Peoples Choice for The Vegan Owl “Local Color Year of the Horse” July 2014 

First Place for High Country - The Protector “Contemporary Realism” May 2014 

Second Place for Rio Grande heading to Taos  “Ity Bity, Itsy-Bitsy, Teeny Weeney show” March 2011

Second Place for Cat Walk “Art of Making Money” May 2010 

First Place for Making Bread “Members Show” February 2009

Third Place for Mysteries of the Night “In Dreams/Local Color” August 2009

People’s Choice Award for Promenade

• Art Institute of CA in San Diego - “Asia” group show, Spring 2009

• 262 Gallery Escondido, CA  Fall/Winter 2008/09

• Art Expo, New York 2007

• San Diego Pastel Society Show Balboa Park 2007 Second Place

• Miramonte winery, 2007 - 2008

• Rancho Santa Fe Art Guild Gallery, 2006/07

• Imperial Beach Art Walk Fall 2005

• Museum of the Living Artists - Balboa Park San Diego, CA 

• Art Walk Little Italy - 2004 - 2005 

• Arts Festival San Diego - 2004 - 2005

• La Jolla Art Association -Pastel Show, 2002 - 2003

• San Diego Pastel Society Show Balboa Park - 2003

• North County Society of Fine Arts, Fall Show - Poway Center for Arts  2000 - 2001

• Scripps Ranch Art Club - People’s Choice Award Winter 

• La Jolla Art Association -3 person show 

• Escondido Art Gallery, Spring Show  2001 Honorable Mention

• Scripps Ranch Art Club, Fall 2001 

• Scripps Ranch Art Club Summer, 2000 

• San Diego Watercolor Society, 2000 and 1998 - 1999

• Rancho Santa Fe Art Guild Gallery, 1999

• Golden Pacific Arts Gallery,  San Diego, CA  1999

 • San Dieguito Art Guild  Fall Show - First Place

 

SHOWS Prior to 1999

• Marine Life Gallery, Del Mar, CA

• San Dieguito Art Guild Leucadia, CA

• Off-track Gallery, Leucadia, CA

• Bradford Gallery, Leucadia, CA 

• Pannikin Gallery, Leucadia, CA

• Omar’s Art Gallery, Newport Beach, CA

• Fullerton Art Gallery, Fullerton, CA

• Virginia Beach Boardwalk Art Show - Virginia Beach, VA

• Neptune Art Festival, Virginia Beach, VA

• Royal Art Gallery, Alexandria, VA

• Fredricksburg Juried Art Show

• Eric Schindler Gallery, Richmond, VA

 

PUBLICITY

• Art Calendar Magazine - Working with a Web Designer, July 2009

• Art Calendar Magazine - Artist Sponsorships, April 2008

• Downtown Escondido Magazine, Communicating an Intense Connection to Life - May 2008

• San Diego Home and Garden Magazine  Outdoor Living - Cover, page 20, Dramatic gardens - 2008

• Del Mar Times, Rancho Santa Fe Review- Artist’s vibrant colors add a touch of magic - November 2008

• Art Business News, Meet the Art Expo Solo Artists -  January 2007

• San Diego Home and Garden Magazine, Feature: Vibrant Palette - October 2007 

• San Diego Union Tribune, Artist finds perfect spot to create - November 2007 

• Your Local News, Every view is a painting - November 2007

• North County Times, Awash with Color, -  April 2007

• North County Times, Just for Mom -  May 2006

• The Artist’s Magazine -  On and below the surface, January 2005

• San Diego Union Tribune, Expressive Art - December 2001 

 

MEMBERSHIPS

• San Diego Art Institute -   Museum of the Living Artist

• Escondido Municipal Gallery

• Rancho Santa Fe Art Guild

• Off Track Gallery

• San Dieguito Art Guild

• Scripps Ranch Art Club, founder

• San Diego Pastel Society

• Pastel Society of the West Coast

• La Jolla Art Association

• San Diego Watercolor Society

 

ART SHOW JUDGE

North County Society of Fine Arts Group Show February 2014 at the Poway Performing Arts Center

San Dieguito Art Guild Group Shows - 2014, 2013, 2007

 

PUBLISHED WORK

• The Philosophy of Color, Trafford Publishing 2004 

Available on Amazon.com

• Artists Magazine,  In the thick of it, June 2006

• Best of America: Pastels - Kennedy Publishing - 2007

• Rancho Santa Fe Times - articles: April 2004, April 2005, Dec 2004, Dec 2006, Jan, April, May, June, July 2007, March, April, May, September, November 2008

• Kennedy Best of Artists website - articles 2008-09

 

CATHY CAREY Workshops 

• Ramona Art Guild - Demos and Workshops on-going

• Fallbrook Art Association - Demo and Workshop 2014

• Elfin Forest - San Diego, CA Plein air painting classes

• Travel Workshops - Santa Fe, NM  Take Your Painting to the Next Level

• Daler Rowney workshops at Arts and  Materials Show in Pasadena Learning Expo in Burbank, 1999 - 2007

• Sennelier Art Manufacturers 2001 - 2003

• The Golden Door Spa, Escondido, CA  - 1999 - 2012

• Artisan Art Expo  - Santa Fe, NM August 2003