Kimberly Nicoletti is an exceptional writer. She wrote this blog for Raitman Art Galleries to preface my exhibit at their north location in Breckenridge, CO, July 25th – August 27. She interviewed my by phone recently and she NAILED it – as in she interpreted my random comments into something cohesive and interesting. Please give it a read, in order to better understand my techniques, approach, philosophy etc. Thank you, Kimberly, and to Raitman Art Galleries for the opportunity.
Kay Stratman paints live in Breckenridge
To watch Kay Stratman paint live is like a lesson in Eastern and Western art influences. Her soft, soothing, atmospheric watercolors imbue a sense of airiness and peace.
Trained in traditional Asian painting — think bamboo, plum blossoms and other forms of nature painted with ink and watercolor on rice paper — she transitioned from sumi-e, which translates to “ink painting” into P’o Mo, a technique that involves pouring thick watercolors onto gold- or silver-covered rice paper called shikisihi boards, which allow the paint to move around.
Coastline Therapy by Kay Stratman
“It’s basically puddles of paint that you shift and manipulate and let dry. Then, you may see something in that pattern and create a little river or mountain or something like that,” she says. “I’ve learned to manipulate it in ways that can create recognizable shapes.”
Though her paintings have evolved into her own signature style, she still employs P’o Mo techniques and bamboo-handled brushes with handpicked soft or stiff bristles that come to a point.
“I can use them in a broad fashion or a pointed fashion. You choose your brush depending on what kind of brushstroke you’re going to be making. A soft brush holds a lot of water, and a stiffer brush holds less water, but it allows you to make more technical brushstrokes,” she says.
Supported by the flow of P’o Mo, colorful streaks of vast sky comprise about two-thirds of the space in most of her paintings.
“I’ve always been fascinated by skies. They add to that airy feeling. Every time you look at the sky, it’s different. It’s never the same, so I feel like I can do just about anything,” she says.
Leave the Road, Take the Trails by Kay Stratman
The ethereal feeling found in Georgia O’Keefe’s paintings have also influenced her, only she has taken to depicting animal bones, including skulls, rather than flowers. It all began when she found a giant elk hip bone on a hike and then began using skulls she discovered in eastern Wyoming — or those that her sustainable hunter friends procured. Either way, each tells a story and are meant to “honor their presence in our wild world and show people why our wilderness is important,” she says.
Hold Your Head High by Kay Stratman
To create her skull paintings, she actually removes the paint she has puddled before adding the skull; otherwise, the watercolors would simply blend into colors below.
While about two thirds of her paintings depict various mountains, she expanded the framework for this weekend’s show, with a theme of: Wild spaces, favorite places. As a result, she included California’s Big Sur coastline with its marine layer and a closeup of a corner of a hot springs in Yellowstone.
Up Close and Prismatic by Kay Stratman
Since hot springs make the perfect subject to illustrate her technique, she’ll be painting the vaporizing waters at the gallery.
“It’s really colorful, and the paint just flows every direction,” she says. “It’s pretty fun to watch me paint.”
She begins by explaining her Eastern materials to onlookers. Then, questions, which she absolutely loves answering, spontaneously emerge.
While each artist takes a different approach in terms of color palette, subject matter, tools and techniques, they both viscerally connect viewers with the beauty and calm of the natural world.
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