Artist Spotlight: Betsy Walton

I stumbled onto the work of Betsy Walton this week via BOOOOOOOM! and have fallen completely in love with her paintings and illustrations. Her use of gouache is inspiring and makes me aware that I have a long way to go before I achieve the mastery of the medium she possesses. Here is a little blurb from her profile (since she can better describe her process than I) followed by a few samples.

As a painter, I work with galleries and collectors, and on personal projects. Many of my paintings and drawings explore the tension and balance between the mysterious nature of our existence and the objects and environments we find in everyday life. We can experience the sublime in the same room where we fold the laundry, and perhaps at the same time.

My style is informed by a range of influences including Byzantine icon paintings, American folk art, geometric abstraction, and the work of many contemporary illustrators and painters. I work with a spontaneous approach and few expectations of specific results. I rarely sketch preliminary drawings before diving into a painting, in the belief that the image formed through the painting process itself will be rich, revealing, and vital.