Kate Dardine

At an early age I felt a connection with the birds and animals that inhabited the fields and woodlands where I grew up in semi-rural Connecticut. Today, animals play an important role in my colorful Expressionist paintings.

In my latest work, colorful brush strokes and scribbles applied enthusiastically and intuitively to canvas mark the beginning of the creation process for each of my paintings. The ensuing patterns can be dense and tangled, geometric or light and lacy. Calligraphic marks and words often appear and disappear in the layers. From this chaotic start, where nothing is censored, I then begin a subtractive process to find the form hidden within the tangle. Sometimes I impose a predetermined figure; often, I have no idea what will emerge.

After earning a degree in Illustration from Sacred Heart University, a trip to Colorado set the course for my life. My husband and I packed up the kids and pets and moved to Fort Collins. Eventually we bought 11 acres of farmland and built a log home.