“Coastal Visions”
By Barbara Zuehlke
Barbara grew up in the Mid-West and lived years in the South-West. Moving to Maryland, living, and boating on the water, and driving thru rural countryside, gave a new artistic inspiration. It can be mesmerizing to watch the waterfowl on the water, reflections of boats, and reflections of clouds in golden and pink skies, the golden farm fields, and blooms of gorgeous color. The autumn and winter light can be amazing! Trying to capture the feeling and magic is truly a challenge. In presenting “Coastal Visions” Barbara gives the viewer a collection of images of these wonderful eastern shore sights.
Working in various mediums, watercolor is by far her favorite. The flow of the pigment moving thru the water is an exciting control issue and creates subtleties and textures other mediums do not achieve. There is a wonderful transparency with watercolor. Barbara starts her paintings working with very wet pigment on wet paper (wet on wet) and finishes with a tighter heavier pigment. A triad painter, all her paintings are painted with a palette of three colors: one blue, one red, and one yellow. All the colors and values in the painting mixed from these three pigments.
An award, winning artist, Barbara has been a resident of Talbot County since 1982. After graduating from Miami University in Oxford Ohio with a BFA in graphics and painting, she did commercial studio design work for The J.L. Hudson Co. in Detroit, Michigan. She also did display design work for John Wanamaker’s downtown Philadelphia store. After moving to the Eastern Shore, she became active in the art community as a member and officer of Working Artists Forum where she is a past president. She is a signature member of the Baltimore Watercolor Society. Barbara is a partner of The Artists Gallery in Chestertown, Maryland and teaches intermediate watercolor at Dorchester Center for the Arts. She works and frames professionally in her home studio.