Antonia Carriere

My impetus to paint comes from an emotional response to landscapes, especially how light dramatizes them. It's very satisfying when light fall  is what clients are first drawn in my work. My basis for compositions is most often about shapes and repeating lines rather than 'scenes'. I knew I needed to be painting when I realized that all my life I'd been continually and unconsciously formatting what I saw around me.      

I entered into an art career later in life than many working artists but with no less passion for the process. I was an art major at Pasadena City College in Pasadena, CA, 1960-1962, where teachers encouraged me to stay on that path. However life sent me in other directions when we moved to Oregon to ranch and start a family. I became a garden  designer and that was a satisfying artistic outlet for many years. I often took art classes at Central Oregon Community College, concentrating on figure drawing, design and watercolor with such fine teachers as Douglas Campbell Smith, Judy Hoiness and Kathleen Keliher.    

Click on any image below to see an enlarged view.

When I discovered soft pastels in a class taught by Kathleen Keliher, I knew I'd found my medium. I was struck by the immediacy of working in pastels and how that lent itself to working in a loose, quick way. The colors were so vibrant and exciting to mix directly on the paper, and there was such a satisfying tactility to the process. I knew I wanted to prioritize pastel painting when we retired and moved to Halfway, OR, in 2006. We created a studio and I began to paint in earnest. The recession made for a slow start but but in the last three years I've been  winning some very validating awards.   

It surprises me now, that though I had an eye and skill when young, I did not think I had enough creativity to prioritize making art. Now there's never enough time for all I want to paint. Northeast Oregon holds endless inspiration.

Learn more about Antonia by visiting her website here. You can also see her work at Sisters Gallery and Frame in Sisters, Oregon.