The Palette, the Colors,
the Poetry of Kathleen Elsey

Kathleen Elsey’s painting, “East Beach, High Tide”  Sold  
16” x 20” painting signed by artist, Kathleen Elsey, lower right
Previously exhibited Solo Exhibition at Thos. Moser, San Francisco 2011

I began this painting in one of my California painting workshops as the demonstration painting. Our group of painters from the Kathleen Elsey Santa Barbara Studio Painting Workshop were in the second story sunlit studio facing the beach with a 180 degree stunning view of the cruise ships, the harbor, the beach volleyball players, the surfers, kayakers, fishermen, restaurants and sun bathers. How did we manage to paint with all of that going on? Well, we are a bunch of very passionate painters. We walked the beach, sketched, photographed the waves and studied the scene, planning our painting and of course, did make time for a long lunch break at my favorite fish restaurant. Then we returned to the studio and proceeded to sketch doing a 25 stroke color study on paper. After that simplification editing painting exercise, we all broke out the brushes and painted that afternoon, each of us putting our own style into the painting. It was fun at the end of the day to see how differently each of us interpreted the beach scene through paint. I saw some fantastic paintings, bright and bold and full of passion. I love wild brush strokes and vivid colors.

I have always admired the French Fauves and am constantly looking at their paintings to help solve problems in my own landscape or still life paintings. You can see many more of my Fauve paintings here on this website and also on NewFauves. com. Kathleen Elsey