BIO: Kathleen Gray Farthing
The artist received a BFA in Printmaking from Carnegie Mellon University.
After graduation, she did illustrations, graphics and courtroom drawings for an ABC-TV affiliate in Pittsburgh, then worked for an in-house design firm in Ohio. For many years, while raising her family, she ran her own graphic design business, but eventually felt the urge to return to her fine art roots. After hearing about the process of painting landscapes on location, or “en plein air”, one taste of painting outside was all it took for her passion to reignite.
Since then, the artist has participated in dozens of exhibitions and juried plein air painting events, including Paint It, Annapolis, Parrsboro (Nova Scotia) International Plein Air Competition, Lighthouse and Bath County Plein Air. Her artwork has been accepted into the American Impressionist Society Small Works Show, several Ohio Plein Air Society juried museum exhibitions, National Oil Painters Wet Paint Competition and others. In August of 2019, was awarded an artist residency in the Olympic Peninsula. January of 2020, she traveled to Cuba with 11 other artists to paint on location in Havana and Viñales.
Recent awards and Competitions:
2023: Artists on Location: Knoxville
Shadows-on-the-Teche: Honorable Mention
2022: Lighthouse Plein Air Festival
Artists on Location: Knoxville: Honorable Mention
Adirondacks Plein Air: Paul Smith College Award
Harford County Plein Air: 2nd place Quick Draw Award
Bath County Plein Air: Best River Painting
2021: Northeast Ohio Plein Air Painters Festival: First Place and Artists’ Choice
Paint the Park, Cuyahoga Valley National Park: First Place
Paint it, Ellicott City: Patapsco Greenway Award
Ohio Plein Air Society Competition
Harford County Plein Air
Ohio Plein Air Society “Small Towns” show: 3rd Place
Mountain Maryland Plein Air
First Brush of Spring: Purchase Award, Quick Draw award