"Gently Down the Stream"

Artist: Judy Horne

• Original Framed Watercolor
• 20 x 16 inches

"Working in a variety of media as I explore various techniques of expression, I find that the tools I pick up on any given day reflect my mood and spirit at the time. As a visual artist, I am primarily a watercolorist and also enjoy working in pastel as well as painting on glassware. Within the realm of watercolor my work also varies one piece may be very realistic and exquisitely rendered; then I may cut loose with bold swatches of color in a more abstract, almost Fauvist, composition. I frequently employ the pouring of luminous washes in my work. I find that varying my technique, materials, and medium, depending on mood and subject matter, keeps my work fresh and exciting to me. When I begin to draw and paint a few years ago, my subject matter was usually a still life or a floral. More recently I have searched out more unusual subjects and landscapes, often choosing a unique vantage point for my composition. Light and shadow patterns frequently catch my eye and are incorporated into my work. All of my paintings have a fresh, clean look and reflect my own happiness with where I am in my life. I am pleased when my work brings pleasure to others, but I truly enjoy the process itself.

After a long, varied and satisfying career in education, I retired content with what I had accomplished and eager to explore other facets of life that I had put on hold for so many years. Freed from the constraints of daily work responsibilities, and joined in pursuits of an artistic nature by my supportive photographer husband, we are able to travel some and life is great.

As I have discovered in all the other phases of my life, the more one learns, the more there is to learn, and that is what I am about: reading, listening, observing, going to workshops and demonstrations, experimenting, stretching, failing, reevaluating, and sometimes, to my delight, succeeding. Although I have no formal art education, I have enjoyed studying with many nationally known artists in watercolor and pastel."