Artist's Statement
Rhythm is life. There is rhythm in a heartbeat, in music, and in design. I dance when I paint. I want to somehow feel the rhythm in my paintings as I feel it in music, totally immersed and totally in sync with something greater than myself. Light dances too. Each painting is a discovery of how the light wraps itself around and through objects which emerge with texture and emotion. Color temperature plays a large part in my paintings. I tint each sanded surface with a color I feel will create a binding of lace throughout. I want to catch surface qualities by first working from the inside out. I add layers of pastel until I can begin sculpting and dancing with the light by scratching, blending or brushing. I want that light to be so infused in my subject that I could reach out and touch it.
Artist's Background
From a very young age I wanted to be an artist. Schools included Kansas University and Fort Hays State University where I earned a BA in art therapy. In 2000, after going to an open studio event in Kansas City, I talked with an artist who encouraged me to join a local art group. The first workshop I attended was in pastels. It was love at first “touch” and began taking classes in 2001. I continue to explore the versatility of this wonderful medium, inspired by the way light transforms our everyday world.
Recent awards:
- 2015, Rogue Guirey Simpson Memorial Award for outstanding wildlife artwork, AWA National Juried Exhibition, Scottsdale, AZ
- 2014, Prairie Art winning entry for the Symphony in the Flint Hills commemorative poster
- 2013, Grand Prize in the Pastel Journal Magazine's 14th Annual Pastel 100 Art Competition, First Place (Animal/Wildlife category) and Honorable Mention (Landscape category)
Memberships: MidAmerica Pastel Society, Pastel Society of America, American Women Artists and Missouri Valley Impressionists Society.
I have been involved in the Raymer’s Red Barn Studio artist-in-residence program in Lindsborg, Kansas since 2010.
Elaine passed away on September 15, 2018.