Acrylic Paintings of Kathleen Woodward

Kirkland Public Library, 308 Kirkland Ave., Kirkland, WA 98033

Artist’s Statement: “To portray the beauty in life, this is my aim as an artist.  In the frenetic, crackling static of our modern culture, surrounded by pixelated images, bombarding noise and concrete, we have become dulled to the expanse of beauty just outside those confines.

I paint what I live, sifted through my experience. Every morning I wake up to the joy and beauty of God’s creation. To me, the landscapes of nature pulse with the vibrancy of life and color. Forests, meadows, mountains and rivers; rocks and streams, sunsets and moonlight, my palette and brush celebrate their riot of hue. The expected myriad of verdant greens in the lushness of our mountain forests, to its unexpected cool, shadowy depths of dioxazine purple, magenta and pthalo blue; to light filtering through the density of foliage to sparkle in glints of yellow on new spring growth, color and motion abound in my paintings.

I choose to focus on the positive, on the joy in life, and as an artist to portray its beauty. I am a happy person, a well balanced optimist. God has given me chances to see His magnificent glory; to see the refulgent light and hope in life instead of oppressive darkness. I have had difficult times, fears and insecurities that are requisite in the human condition; they are part of my story, the fabric of who I am. I find peace by escaping the shadows and abandoning myself to God’s light and love. A proclamation of the verve and beauty of life; this is the spirit of my paintings.”

Kathleen Woodward’s paintings challenge the viewer to have an optimistic spirit, and share a love of life that is reflected in each painting.

After attending UC Berkeley during the cultural explosion of the 1970s, Woodward sought a pure form of expression that was consistent with her traditional upbringing and free spirit. Her childhood passion of jewelry making and engraving was set free from the simple relief of silver and steel as she set off with an easel and palette to paint the world. Woodward’s early development as an artist was shaped by her close friendship with noted California Plein Aire painter, Pam Glover. Glover at the time was painting with Louis Siegriest, a founder of the avant-garde art movement in California’s Society of Six. The heightened sense of color and influence of fauvism in Glover and Siegriest’s work was strong and took hold of Woodward’s brush. With showings across the West Coast throughout the mid 1990s and representation in elite collections, Woodward’s influence within the art movement was certain. But her faith told her to stop. After a vibrant beginning, she quit with a half finished canvas resting against her easel. By faith, Kathleen refocused her expression towards the people around her. Family, community service, and spiritual growth became the primary colors of her life. She dedicated herself to raising and homeschooling three children and bought a horse. Painting was rendered to the past. Kathleen’s return is a testimony to life’s movement. With faith she waited to overcome, not sure if color and canvas would return or be replaced by a new form of personal expression. Now a new, fresh look has emerged in her artwork that expresses the same faith that once called her away.