Carrie Auwaerter

Drawing while still in the high-chair I was fortunate to have access to art classes before I entered kindergarten. My great aunt took up oil painting at age 60 (the year I was born). When I was old enough to sit still I went with her and learned about priming a canvas, color and composition in advance of reading and writing. I have been expressing my personal narrative with images ever since.

Landscape paintings reveal my interest in the effect of time and nature on man-made structures. For years my painting focus was on portraiture, then my eye shifted to light and texture and the invasion of organics, my goal was to share “snap shots” of time and sentiment. Occasionally natural events can visually influence a location with feeling as much as any portrait can evoke emotion. A sense of nostalgic connection…I love that! Decay and neglect can polish an uninteresting place and changes it to a point of interest. Ruins in the Midwest, our seasons are harsh and change the landscape over and over again. Well worn concrete, with weeds sprouting up through the cracks every spring in vivid green. All the seasons cultivate new results and that is what I strive to capture with paint to canvas, paint to paper.

I have taught and taken part in many workshops and classes but to be honest I have had no “formal training”. I have been exhibiting and selling my works for more than 25 years nationally including “Looking at America” at the Washington Gallery of Photography/Capital Arts Network in Bethesda, MD.

The artists that have influenced me the most are Gustav Klimt, Maxfield Parrish and the photographer Man Ray. I live in the Midwest and discover inspiration through travel and in my own backyard.