Pauline Caffrey

Pauline Caffrey , founding co-owner of Artists' Showplace Gallery is comfortable painting in a variety of media. Originally trained in oil painting, she now paints with ease in pastels, acrylics, mixed media, pen and ink or watercolor.

When asked about her preferred medium, Pauline recalls her first teacher Jane Jones, who introduced her to watercolor. She enjoys the spontaneity of watercolor, its freshness and the challenge of controlling its unpredictable nature. The magic of pouring colors and watching their interaction on the paper continues to fascinate her.

At Artists' Showplace Gallery, she shares her enthusiasm for art by teaching painting classes in oils, acrylics and watercolor. Her early training as an oil painter strongly impressed on her the importance of sound design and composition, as the basis for any successful painting. She taught classes in New Hampshire to budding artists of all ages, before she moved to Texas. She is passionate about traveling, planning frequent trips overseas each year, to broaden her horizons and to continue to fuel her creativity.

Unlike others who take in the sights and sounds of a new location, recording it quickly with a camera, she takes the time to create little studies. These sketches in pen, ink and watercolor are dynamic, expressive little journal notes in a fresh visual medium. They bear not only the stamp of her style, but give us a glimpse into all that captured her attention on her travels.

"No matter how busy each day is," she says , "I take the time to sit down, and sketch. It forces me to simplify, to edit the scene before me and to capture the essence of the moment. It is also the best way to preserve my memory of that trip."

These vivid, little paintings are completed in about a half an hour. The location is then photographed; and the combination of the two sometimes inspires a larger work in her studio.

She has hundreds of these little paintings, a treasure trove of over ten years of travel. Pauline is drawn to France, especially to Normandy and Paris. She has taken numerous trips to Italy and Canada.

She feels that the value of drawing cannot be stressed enough for beginning artists. Today, she can switch comfortably between a broad variety of media, because of the honing of that very skill.

Although she teaches art, she also avails of every opportunity to learn from other professional artists. She has studied with Judy Morris, Betsy Dillard Stroud, James Toogood, Nicholas Simmons, Bruce Peil and Rusty Jones.

She has served on the board of Associated Creative Artists, Southwestern Watercolor Society, Texas Art Association, and the Plano Art Association.

She is currently a member of Associated Creative Artists, Southwestern Watercolor Society, Richardson Civic Art Society, and Outdoor Painters Group.

Check back often to see more of Pauline's art.
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