Katharine Poole

Born and raised in Houston, Texas, I think my art career started around age 5... I cannot remember the first time I started creating but I can remember wanting to create a bulletin board in Kindergarten and my teacher let me make one in the hall. I made a bird in a nest and the bird could be removed from the nest and it looked nice too. She was impressed. When I leaned about shoebox dioramas, I proceeded to make several and also a larger "theater" to slide the shoebox "scenes" in an and out of with popsicle puppets. So my art and educator careers took off. After graduating from Baylor University, I started teaching science. People don't readily see the connection between science and art but I have found parallels in many ways. Observation is incredibly important to science and art; you must observe to understand, see patterns, shapes, forms, the effects of the elements on a subject, gather materials, experiment, repeat, note results, continue on...

I settled in Central Texas with my husband and three children and started teaching art. The ability to use my creativity every day and the things my students teach me has laid a foundation for my own work, I just need to find the time to paint!

My father, a geologist, appreciated art. Not only would he encourage me to make art but our family was frequently visiting artists and studios in small-town-Texas. He purchased and even commissioned artwork and I now have several of those pieces in my home. My dad's mother painted on porcelain which is so lovely. She would just say it was something young women did back then. My mother's father started painting after coming home from WWII. He had been a bombardier and saw a lot of horrific things. It was suggested that he take up painting and he did. He painted florals and some landscapes. I cherish these paintings. 

I have added pieces to my collection including prints from Gene Kloss and other artists, mostly western but I appreciate any good art including abstract pieces. Some I cannot resist rescuing from an estate sale or resale shop. I try to find a home for them. If I ever have a physical gallery, it would include antiques. There's just something about an old piece with a story to tell.

I paint in the mediums of oil, pastel, and watercolor. I have started to paint en plein air and participated in my first quick-draw which was challenging but so exciting! At the Texas Art Education Association Conference I attended a workshop on mono prints at Flatbed Press and I can't wait to go back and explore more ideas. Although I depict many subjects in my art, I largely focus on landscapes and botanicals. My grandfather, the painter, always had a vegetable garden and today my mother keeps a beautiful, large, flower garden where I take many photos. I have a smaller space for gardening but I enjoy taking care of it as well and using it as a subject. I am so blessed to live in a beautiful region of Texas with incredible natural beauty that inspires me every day. I love seeing a giant storm roll in with towering thunderheads, the wind sweeps through dropping the temperature, sideways rain and then it clears out with a beautiful blue sky. These occur more in fall and spring with our summers heating up to over the century mark on a daily basis, dry with clear skies. Winter can be wet or dry but only freezes a few times usually only in the night. Sadly, these patterns have changed with the reflective particles released overhead; the blue sky is hazy, the sun is less yellow and tiny drops of water form around the particles creating a haze even at ground level. It's more humid but there is no rain in sight, our plants and wildlife suffer. I don't always portray these new atmospheric conditions but it affects the light and the clouds so I may have to use my artistic license to adjust the painting in a way I like. I choose to find the beauty in our world and share it with others. This includes being a good steward of the world God created. I do not know what is ahead but I will serve my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and find hope in the Word,

“if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land." 

2 Chronicles 7:14-15