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". . . with her views of Ventura and Malibu, McGuire manages to paint an impression of Southern California as a place of airy splendor, with an untrammeled Mediterranean ambiance. It's art that makes you glad you're here."
by Josef Woodard, Los Angeles Times Art Critic
In a wonderful blend of exuberance and discipline, Katherine McGuire's paintings investigate the spectacle of Southern California's nature and architecture. There is a triumph of color in her work, where form is expressed in color and line rather than light and shade. Viewing her paintings is like looking up to a blue fragmented sky from the bottom of a swimming pool.
McGuire paints primarily in watercolor, "I like the flow of paint and water. Watercolors are also a good medium to use outside." Her technique is unique in that she applies her paint to canvas prepared with a translucent ground rather than the customary paper. "I can also spray and layer much more on canvas to get deeper pigments and richer color. When the painting is done it doesn't need to be covered with glass, which removes a barrier and adds immediacy. It brings the viewer closer to the work." McGuire pays a price for her convictions, the Watercolor Society won't exhibit anything not on paper, "My work is hard to categorize, I don't fit in with traditional watercolorists and although I do a lot of painting outside, my work is different from what most people expect from the Plein Air Painters."
In Southern California her paintings have been exhibited at the Carnegie Art Museum, the Ventura County Museum of History and Art, the UCSB Women's Center, the Ojai Center for the Arts, the Buenaventura Gallery and Gallery 9. Her artwork can be found in many private collections in the United States as well as in Europe.
by Jeff Grimes
See McGuire's work in the Buenaventura Gallery and on her website at www.katherinemcguire.com
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