My first oils were done in the Philippine Islands where my dad was stationed in the Air Force 1958-1961. He gifted me private lessons at the base hobby shop where I began to paint subjects such as the native nipa huts, fighting cocks, and rice paddies — a far cry from the cotton fields and tobacco barns that I'm now painting in North Carolina. No matter where I am, I love painting regional subject matter and landscapes. Maybe it's because this is how it all began for me so many years ago.
My first event painting started with “Swinefest”, an outdoor fundraiser event at the Arts Council of Wayne (County) in Goldsboro, NC. Knowing I would set up to do some plein air painting, I had to decide what I’d be painting. Although certainly, there was movement involved, I knew the bluegrass band performing on the flatbed would not be walking off the truck. So what started with about eight paintings of a bluegrass band, has led to paintings of musicians at the Fargo Blues Festival in North Dakota and to weddings in the Carolinas. Capturing the spirit and the essence of the event or persons is my aim at these events. Click on WeddingWatercolors.com to see a web site devoted entirely to my event painting.
The premier show of "Highway 13 Revisited" opened on January 25, 2008 at the Greenville Museum of Art in Greenville, NC. The show at the Museum remains on view until March 1. Painted mostly en plein air (on location), the collection of oil paintings reflect the spontaneity with which they were painted. On a sunny day with the light constantly changing, the artist's challenge is to paint fast and ala prima (first stroke). Behr invites you to travel with her on a sentimental journey of her paintings of scenes that extend on U.S. Route 13 from Newton Grove to Greenville, North Carolina. Click here to see the entire collection of Highway 13 Revisited paintings.
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