PastelsKathy Young
“Pastels give me freedom to make exciting marks – from sweeping bold strokes to small specks of pigment that kiss the paper. The vibrant hues express my joy of color. Mark making and overlapping of color convey emotion through my paintings and create exciting textures and new colors. ”
Kathy and her brother and grew up in a very small town, less than 2,000 people, in Iowa. Her father was a carpenter and farmer, and her mom ran a small restaurant. she lived in the mid-west until she graduated college.
Kathy earned a bachelor’s degree in art from Dana College in Iowa. Once she graduated, she got a teaching job in Omaha Nebraska. She lived there for two years and taught art in grade K-12. Kathy has always enjoyed traveling and has visited over 27 countries.
When she left Omaha, she was hired by the Department of Defense. She taught in Iceland and in the Azores Islands of the coast of Spain, Iceland, and Spain. After that she moved to California where she operated her own successful business for nearly two decades.
She then returned to teaching and taught art in a K-8 school district. She was hired to teach the primary grades where she became a highly skilled reading teacher. Her Master’s Degree in Curriculum was earned from Grand Canyon University. She also has many specific trainings including GATE (Gifted and Talented Education) TESA (Teacher Expectations Student Achievement) GLAD (Guided Language Acquisition Development) English Language Professional Development. During this time, she was selected as her school’s teacher of the year and her district teacher of the year.
Upon retirement Kathy took art classes from David Musser; Natalie Richards, Teresa Saia, and Alain Picard.
As she practiced, she gained more confidence and then fell in love with pastels. Pastels give her freedom to make exciting marks – from sweeping bold strokes to small specks of pigment that kiss the paper. The vibrant hues express her joy of color.
Mark making and overlapping of color convey emotion through her paintings and create exciting textures and new colors. She likes to intensify and exaggerate the colors capturing everything from the beauty of nature’s grandeur to the simplicity of her everyday surroundings.
Kathy’s favorite paintings are spontaneous and communicate the energy she see in her sources. Her favorite subjects are landscapes that she creates from photographs taken during her travels. She tries to interpret emotions through her paintings, capturing the essence of the places she has visited.
