Carrie Alderfer

My art focuses on color and humanity’s relationship with nature. From exquisite details found in fur and flowers to how nature overcomes the man-made, I use color to draw attention to aspects of the natural world that people often overlook in today’s crazy rat race. By focusing so close on the subject, sometimes to the point that it almost abstract, the viewer becomes engaged with the piece as they try and figure out what they are looking at. They know the subject is comfortable and familiar, yet the viewpoint offers them something unexpected. I want them to see, to really look and experience the natural world that we often miss.

Each piece requires extensive planning to achieve simplicity of form and the strong positive and negative spaces. I work from my own reference photos and experiment with cropping the photos in Photoshop before I even begin the initial drawing. I create a fairly detailed line drawing on paper or canvas, and then the fun begins - color! I want the color to be intense and powerful. I use it to lead people to details they often miss in “real life”. Color is emotional for people, and I explore how the interplay of colors can augment emotion and connect people to the form. There’s no deep, hidden meaning beh...

The University of Alabama in Huntsville
Graduated in May 1997 with a Bachelor of Arts degree and a Mathematics minor
Graduated Cum Laude
Completed the Honors Program and the Cooperative Education Program

Colored Pencil Society of America International Exhibition, Oglethorpe University Museum of Art, Atlanta, GA - 2015
Gadsden Art Association 57th Annual Juried Show, Gadsden Museum of Art, Gadsden, AL - 2015
Monte Sano Art Show, Monte Sano State Park, Huntsville, AL - 2015
River Clay Fine Arts Festival, Decatur, AL - 2015
Art on the Lake, Guntersville, AL - 2014
National Oil and Acrylic Painters’ Society Online International Exhibition - 2013