Click here to see Catherine Girard's work

Born and raised in New York, award-winning artist Catherine Girard has lived in several diverse areas of the United States. Extended time spent on both coasts, Hawaii, New England, the Sonoran Desert of Arizona, the Pacific Northwest, the deep South and since 1986, the Smoky Mountains of eastern Tennessee has provided a great reservoir of material.

Primarily self-taught, she is known for detailed, full-sized realistic paintings and one-sixth scale and other miniatures in oils and acrylics.Subjects such as landscapes, wildlife, florals and portraiture are executed in paintings of distinctive artistry. In Alabama, in the mid-eighties, she held art classes and participated in an Invitational Exhibit at the Washington, DC offices of her Congressman. In 2003, she received the Arts for the Parks Mini 50 Paintings Award for Excellence from the prestigious National Park Academy of the Arts in Jackson, Wyoming (fifty were chosen from over 900 entries). 2006 presented a distinct honor when four paintings were selected in the inaugural PAINT AMERICA Competition. Her mature work has gained wide acceptance and is in private and corporate collections throughout the United States and abroad. She is available for selected commissioned work.

ARTIST'S STATEMENT

“For me, painting is a journey of discovery. An attempt to capture the magnificent beauty of God's handiwork, and although I may only come close to that ideal, it is satisfying to approach the mark. I work slowly and more detailed in acrylics, a little looser in oils. I like my wildlife and their habitat to look natural with subtle color balance. Every piece is the result of honest effort and after seven decades of practice, I hope I'm on my way to getting it right! Occasionally, a piece evolves in an entirely unexpected direction, or fulfills my vision of color, form and deign, exceeding even my wildest hopes. If there are disappointments, they are discarded. And now I am on a mission with other like-minded representational artists who are visually preserving an environment under attack. My work arises from appreciation of the world that surrounds me: fields, forest, mountains and streams and the myriad life abiding therein. I pray it will evoke a similar response in the hearts and minds of my collectors. I give you my best. ENJOY”.