“As long as I can remember I have painted what has surrounded me in my everyday life”.
Born in the USA, Kathy Christian-Gooch now lives and farms in rural Victoria, Australia. She is a self taught artist and although she was awarded two art scholarships in the United States, circumstances prevented her from accepting these scholarships. As a young girl, Kathy was very passionate about horses and these became her first subject matter. In her early 20s, Kathy twice won the Bay Meadows California Jockey Club Award for her paintings of race horse. An interest in wildfowl and birds followed and for a number of years these were frequent themes in her painting repertoire. Kathy entered various State and Federal Duck Stamp contests in the USA and exhibited at many decoy and wildlife art shows. In addition to farming, painting and training stock dogs, Kathy writes for the International Sheepdog News and readers will be familiar with her articles.
For almost five years Kathy mastered the art of Scrimshaw; miniature etchings on bone and ivory. The material she used was fossilized mammoth ivory. In this medium Kathy won multiple awards. When it become unfashionable to do scrimshaw and the intricate work took a toll on her eyes, Kathy moved to painting in gouache, watercolour and coloured pencil.
Concurrent with her time as a Scrimshaw artist, Kathy was working as a handler of big cats at a wildlife rehabilitation compound in Northern California. That experience, combined with multiple trips to Kenya and Tanzania, afforded her the opportunity of observing big cats and African Wildlife at close range. It was a unique opportunity and one that has left a lasting impression on
her. For a time, Kathy immersed herself in painting big cats. Right from the start Kathy has painted the animals that have surrounded her and become a part of her life. She believes each animal has emotions, a specific personality and often a definite sense of humour. Kathy's primary mediums now are watercolour, gouache, and coloured pencil. She loves detail and is fascinated by the intricate work of talented artists such as Carl Brenders, Mikel Donahue and Carrie Ballantyne. Kathy has exhibited work in galleries in the USA and Australia, and has sold original commissioned works to clients all over the world. Her art has been featured in the Australian Cattle Dog Annual, R.M. Williams Outback Magazine and Australian Artists Palette Magazine to name a few. In 2008 she did the painting for the World Sheepdog Trials held in Wales in the UK. Her clients include some of the top working sheepdog handlers in the world who have commissioned her to depict their top winning dogs.
Most recently she has been mentored by noted Australian artist Peter Trusler. Trusler is a biological anatomist who specialises in illustrations reconstructing dinosaurs from fossils. Kathy has now started studying skulls of dogs and wild canids for a better understanding of what lies beneath the hair. She is now a firm believer that in order to paint the correct anatomical structure of an animal one must study the skeleton. Also many of her drawings are done from black and white photos, only studying the colour later as black and white shows tonal values better. She is also an avid collector of feathers from birds around the world. In addition she has started designing high end jewellery with semi-precious stones and hopes to have a website active shortly.
Since moving to Australia in 2003, working dogs, cattle and sheep have become an integral part of Kathy's everyday life. This has dominated the subject matter in her paintings. As a breeder of Kelpies and ISDS Border Collies she is able to observe first hand the unique characteristics of these working breeds and impart them into her artwork.
Born in the USA, Kathy Christian-Gooch now lives and farms in rural Victoria, Australia. She is a self taught artist and although she was awarded two art scholarships in the United States, circumstances prevented her from accepting these scholarships. As a young girl, Kathy was very passionate about horses and these became her first subject matter. In her early 20s, Kathy twice won the Bay Meadows California Jockey Club Award for her paintings of race horse. An interest in wildfowl and birds followed and for a number of years these were frequent themes in her painting repertoire. Kathy entered various State and Federal Duck Stamp contests in the USA and exhibited at many decoy and wildlife art shows. In addition to farming, painting and training stock dogs, Kathy writes for the International Sheepdog News and readers will be familiar with her articles.
For almost five years Kathy mastered the art of Scrimshaw; miniature etchings on bone and ivory. The material she used was fossilized mammoth ivory. In this medium Kathy won multiple awards. When it become unfashionable to do scrimshaw and the intricate work took a toll on her eyes, Kathy moved to painting in gouache, watercolour and coloured pencil.
Concurrent with her time as a Scrimshaw artist, Kathy was working as a handler of big cats at a wildlife rehabilitation compound in Northern California. That experience, combined with multiple trips to Kenya and Tanzania, afforded her the opportunity of observing big cats and African Wildlife at close range. It was a unique opportunity and one that has left a lasting impression on
her. For a time, Kathy immersed herself in painting big cats. Right from the start Kathy has painted the animals that have surrounded her and become a part of her life. She believes each animal has emotions, a specific personality and often a definite sense of humour. Kathy's primary mediums now are watercolour, gouache, and coloured pencil. She loves detail and is fascinated by the intricate work of talented artists such as Carl Brenders, Mikel Donahue and Carrie Ballantyne. Kathy has exhibited work in galleries in the USA and Australia, and has sold original commissioned works to clients all over the world. Her art has been featured in the Australian Cattle Dog Annual, R.M. Williams Outback Magazine and Australian Artists Palette Magazine to name a few. In 2008 she did the painting for the World Sheepdog Trials held in Wales in the UK. Her clients include some of the top working sheepdog handlers in the world who have commissioned her to depict their top winning dogs.
Most recently she has been mentored by noted Australian artist Peter Trusler. Trusler is a biological anatomist who specialises in illustrations reconstructing dinosaurs from fossils. Kathy has now started studying skulls of dogs and wild canids for a better understanding of what lies beneath the hair. She is now a firm believer that in order to paint the correct anatomical structure of an animal one must study the skeleton. Also many of her drawings are done from black and white photos, only studying the colour later as black and white shows tonal values better. She is also an avid collector of feathers from birds around the world. In addition she has started designing high end jewellery with semi-precious stones and hopes to have a website active shortly.
Since moving to Australia in 2003, working dogs, cattle and sheep have become an integral part of Kathy's everyday life. This has dominated the subject matter in her paintings. As a breeder of Kelpies and ISDS Border Collies she is able to observe first hand the unique characteristics of these working breeds and impart them into her artwork.
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