About
As a beginning artist we are taught to accurately replicate subject matters and our progress is based on how close to the subject the finished work looks. As I grew, I took this challenge on with a great fervor which, thankfully, lead me towards success. Life has presented me with constant opportunities to learn, expand, and be inspired. I work on new techniques to improve composition, light, shadows, color, and contrast. In this later half of my life, I am taking some time to go back to my art and make these improvements.
Realism is what I truly love because no one has to ask what my art or message is. I pride myself in accentuating the highlights of a subject that even a photo can’t do justice to.
In the process of refining my technique, I have gravitated towards the use of pastels. I find this medium extremely pleasurable because the texture achieves effects that are difficult to do in other mediums. The vibrant colors are inspiring and pastels allow me to be creative from beginning to end.
A variety of subject matter is important to me; I love portraits, animals, floral, and landscapes from all over the world. I especially enjoy when I capture a candid moment and I find that variety allows me to alternate, as well as stay inspired.
Teaching allows me to meet people and travel, two things I enjoy as much as painting. If I had a mission statement, it would be to continue to do these three things the rest of my life.
brendamattsonart@gmail.com
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Accolades
Brenda Mattson is a Signature Member of the Pastel Society of America, a member of the Portrait Society of America, the Salmagundi Club NY, was Exhibition Chairperson for the International Association of Pastel Societies from 2006-2009 and is Historian for the Great Lakes Pastel Society. In 2000 she received the IAPS Golden Mentor Award and Master Circle Award. In 2019 she received her IAPS Eminent Pastelist Award. Her work as been published in three books and several art magazines. She has a portrait of President Ford in the permanent collection of the Gerald R. Ford Museum and multiple paintings in the permanent collection of the President Ronald Reagan Gallery in Santa Barbara, CA. Her work has hung in many museums in the United States as well as abroad. Brenda has taught workshops for 20 years nationally and internationally and has her works in many galleries, as well as in corporate and private collections.