Claudia Rutherford

Claudia Rutherford

Background & Education

My art career seemed to begin when I was six. My first drawings were animals drawn in pencil on discarded paper bags from my great uncle's grocery store. Fulfilling my dream of receiving art instruction, I majored in art at Northern Illinois University in the early 1970s. I paid my tuition and fees through commissioned oil portraits. Setting aside my art to raise my four daughters, I pursued a career as an advocate for abused children. I returned to my art in 2007 when I retired and moved to a small farm northwest of Bristol Virginia. Since that time I have participated in several watercolor workshops in the southeast and now work exclusively in watercolor.

Teaching Classes

I have taught watercolor classes at The Arts Depot in Abingdon and am currently teaching classes at the 606 State Street Gallery in Bristol. I also give private lessons to a precious eleven year old artist. I will be teaching a “Beginning Watercolor Techniques” class in September.

Awards

This past July I received an Award of Distinction and the People's Choice Award at the Virginia Highlands Festival. In 2010, I received the “People's Choice Award” at the Arts Depot Members Show, an honorable mention at the Virginia Highlands Juried Show, a second place in the Bristol Park Department Wildlife Show, and an “Award of Merit” at the Art of the Highlands Historic Bristol Show. In 2009 I also won an honorable mention in the Virginia Highlands Festival Juried Show. During that same year I also was awarded best of show, first and second place in the “Newell-Hendershot Never Too Late” show. In 2008 I placed third in the “Newell-Hendershot Never Too Late” exhibition and held the office of President Elect for the Watauga Valley Art League in Johnson City, TN. I am currently a member of the Bristol 606 State Street Artist Coop and the Arts Depot in Abingdon.

Artist Statement

I am basically a child at heart wandering through life awestruck by the world's beauty. As a Virginia resident, the vast majority of my paintings depict my love of Virginia animals and people. I attempt to capture their personalities and tell their stories through meticulous realism, dispite the challenges imposed by parkinson's disease. Once I found teeny-tiny brushes could provide individual hairs on my subjects, my style was born.

I usually begin a portrait by working on the subject's eye. I do not move on until the eyes come alive. I know a piece is finished when I can hang it in my house. Until that point I am haunted by any imperfections. I didn't intend to be an animal portrait watercolorist but as my portfolio developed, a pattern began to unfold. Nothing pleases me more than when people view my work and wonder how I was able to make the animal look so lifelike. My secret would have to be using layers upon layers of transparent paint and radiant high contrasts. And what do I strive to elicit from my viewers? I hope they feel the same emotions I have poured into my work: joy, reflection, wonder and love.