Friday, March 30, 2012

Paint Party Friday: Week 3, Year 2 Check-In Featured Artist: Kathy Van Osdale

image courtesy of Kathy Van Osdale

Welcome to Paint Party Friday and the next installment of our Featured Artist Series!  (Would you like to be a PPF Featured Artist?  Click here for details!)  This week, we are featuring an artist who creates bright and colorful paintings that she describes as whimsical folk art.  Many of you know her as KVO, it is our pleasure to introduce you to Kathy Van Osdale!

1) Please tell us a bit about your history with painting.  (When did you start painting? How has your painting evolved since you first started?)
I have been drawing and painting since I was eight years old. My parents got divorced when I was seven and I became very introverted. My mom worked a lot and I was left home alone for many hours. Art was an outlet and a friend to me. I spent hours drawing, coloring, and painting. I took art classes in middle school and high school and majored in Art in college at Florida State University. However, it was not until after my daughter was born that I started painting regularly.

2) What are your favorite techniques, media, and tools to use in creating your paintings?
My favorite mediums are watercolors and acrylics. I have painted in oils, but they take a much longer time to dry and are more expensive. I love to work with bright colors in my pieces. I prefer to work with larger canvases, but I will paint on a smaller scale.

3) What is your favorite thing to paint?  Why?
I really enjoy painting water, buildings, Frida, and images from pop culture and famous art pieces, such as my own version of the Mona Lisa or Botticelli’s Venus. This is my favorite painting that I have painted to date. (“Venus is Born” by KVO (2010))  I love Botticelli and “Birth of Venus” is one of my favorite pieces. I wanted to do my own version of that painting. I painted Venus in watercolors on watercolor paper. Then, I cut her out and attached her to a canvas that I painted in acrylics. I always paint my oceans the same way, which I guess is kind of a signature of mine. I love her hair and how it blends into the water.

4) What is your proudest painting moment and/or greatest painting achievement so far?
My greatest painting achievement so far is a portrait I did of my daughter when she was eleven. It is very abstract and colorful and she has it hanging in her room. All of her friends comment on it and ask her who painted it… I get tickled when she says, “My mom!”

5) What's next in your painting future?
Next for me in my painting future is to learn more…more …more… I love taking online classes, I am disabled so these are ideal for me. There is also a local museum that offers classes and I am hoping to take some very soon. I also want to connect with more artists online, building my folk art community on ning, make more videos, and maybe eventually, teach classes myself.

Thank you, Kathy!

To learn even more about Kathy and see more of her art, please visit her at:


**Would you like to be a PPF Featured Artist?  Click here for details!**

And what a great party last week! Here is our check-in for this week's party:

Please make sure to use your post URL address NOT your blog home page URL address as there are many late visitors who get confused as to which post is for PPF when they arrive (after Friday) at your website. If you are unfamiliar with Mr. Linky, an explanation of how this tool works can be found on Week 1 and Week 2 Check-Ins.


Have a fabulous time at the party!

*****Notice****
There are problems commenting on many blogs Friday morning. On Blogger Help - Known Issues, it says this - "Creating more than 10 Custom Redirects will currently throw a bX error. Engineers are working on a fix and we'll update this thread as soon as it's resolved." It was error bX-tm5jc4 so that applies - though I have no idea what custom re-directs are...

It is definitely interfering with the party and with visiting.   :(    Hopefully they will fix it soon as I couldn't even comment here. Please try again later if this is affecting you too and hopefully we can get the party rolling again!

xo
EVA (and Kristin)

32 comments:

  1. great to get to know Kathy a bit more. I really like the new format of learning about mu fellow PPF friends. everyone is so unique and so dedicated to art expression. Keep up the great work Kathy You are a wonderful and whimsical artist !

    Happy Friday !

    - KAT -

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  2. wonderful to read your interview with Kathy and to get to know her a bit Her painting is wonderful!
    Happy PPF!

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  3. Another wonderful interview! Happy PPF!

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  4. Nice to meet Kathy and learn a some about her. Have a wonderful weekend everyone.
    Nicole/Beadwright

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  5. I love this new feature! Thank you both for everything, xo

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  6. Thank you for introducing us to a new artist each week! Although I do miss the survey too! :^) patsy

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  7. Lovely to read about new artists!!! What a great idea and a great way for us all to get to know each other better!!! :0)

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  8. Great interview, so interesting to learn more about Kathy! Happy PPF!

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  9. Hello Eva and Kristin, great to be back here and such a good interview, loved meeting Kathy and her art! Have a great week-end and just loving Paint Party Friday, thanks!

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  10. Thanks Eva and Kristin, I look forward to PPF each week. What wonderful artists!

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  11. I guess I'll start by trying to leave a comment here. I went to a workshop last Sunday; introduction to acrylics. It was a lot of fun. Not sure I'll do much more with the medium, but my husband (a true beginner) and I had a great time.

    happy PPF to all of you.

    Mimi Torchia Boothby Watercolors

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  12. blogger is changing its blogging platform and has been very glitchy all week...you can change now or it will automatically change in april...i've been cussing at my puter all week trying to figure out the new configuration of the dashboard...thanks for introducing Kathy! great interview and thanks for PPF!! hope you have a great weekend!

    *jean*

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  13. I finished my fourth Modigliani this week for the Ayala Art Challenge. Now I'm off to begin my own Jane Eyre Challenge and maybe start on an altered book!

    Happy PPF!

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  14. Interesting interview with Kathy. Thanks for hosting! I'm happy I found your blog!
    Hugs, Cindy

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  15. I came to see if I can leave a comment and it seems I can (here)...will try some others as well. Perhaps the problem is fixed. Happy to be #60 on today's PPF. I invite you all to my blog to see a slew of drawings and paintings from my weekly visit to Jalisco's for lunch where I sit and draw while I eat one fish taco and half an order of the best guacamole in town.

    Now I will go above and read the interview! I love the painting!

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  16. This is great girls......so nice to meet Kathy. Kathy's work is beautiful and inspiring.

    Hugs Annabelle ~^..^~

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  17. This is a great feature here as I enjoy reading about others who do Art and really enjoyed reading about Kathy. I too find connecting on line to be a great insentive to keep making Art and learning my craft.

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  18. This is my first time linking here, though I've been meaning to for a while. I'm still experimenting but it's lots of fun.

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  19. boo hiss to problems with blogger...... Hope everyone still has fun and links up. I look forward to Fridays and seeing what everyone has been working on. thank you for hosting. Its been so good for this artist!!!!!

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  20. Great interview! thanks for hosting PPF!

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  21. thanks Eva and Kristin for introducing and highlighting this wonderful artist, Kathy's work is amazing, these interviews are great!
    hopefully blogger will get the bugs out soon!

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  22. what a cool bio! Especially great knowing about what led people to art - in this case the divorce - happy PPF!

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  23. Great bio. Happy PPF and enjoy the weekend, Annette x

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  24. Wonderful to know you Kathy...and a fine interview Eva & Kristin:) Happy PPF!!!

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  25. Great interview! I would love to see a photo of the portrait Kathy painted of her daughter. I am interested in starting to paint people and I especially like abstract portraits. PPF has inspired me yet again!

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  26. Nice painting! Wishing you more and more creative hours!

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  27. Yes leaving comments has been a problem. Great interview and great work by Kathy. It's been hard trying to catch up because of being out of town and the problems with blogger but here I am trying to catch up. Hopefully I can get to more blogs later this evening. Happy PPF everyone and hey there Deepaz!! So good to see you here.

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