Strong colors and shapes have enriched my life since infancy. As a child, we lived on a small island surrounded by white sand beaches and a turquoise Bahamian sea. The dank green growth of jungle plants, bright boats on the brilliant sea surface, and the exotic animals I encountered are my earliest memories. In the 1940’s and 50’s, I lived in a tiny New England town with my Grandparents who made furniture on their small farm. The vastness of the White Mountain National Forest just steps from our backdoor, my life and art influences are best described by John Denver’s hit song,“ Thank God, I’m a Country Boy.”

Wood stoves filled our home with warmth; however, I spent hours stacking and hauling cordwood While I learned the furniture business in my Grandfather’s shop. After Prep School, I got the opportunity to work as a ship’s welder with a crew of grizzled seamen on a freighter carrying road-building equipment up the Amazon River for the Trans Andes Highway.

As a young man, I honed my riding skills on dirt bikes, street bikes and powerful racing machines. Eventually the Viet Nam war beckoned. Back home finally, with a new BS degree, I landed a job teaching Biology in Massachusetts where the winters were long and the summers boring. While moonlighting as a motorcycle mechanic, I was approached with an offer of a buy-out. Soon thereafter, I opened my shop selling European Motocross machines.

My business was fast-paced much of the year but died in the winter. Bored, my science and woodworking mind latched onto wood carving and painting birds. My skills took me to the world of Wildlife Art Sculpture competitions on the Eastern Shore, MD competing for International prizes and Federal Duck Stamp awards (one of my carvings to the left). Finally I had realized my true calling as an Artist. Since then, I have created, almost exclusively, mixed media wall art. I am passionate about capturing a split second of movement in nature. My art is wrapped in bold color, but the shapes, shadows, and contours of moving animals are what ignite me – and I hope you too!

Born in Bessemer, Alabama, I've lived and traveled extensively throughout the United States. I received a BS in Secondary Education from the University of Nebraska, Omaha and taught history, psychology and humanities at nearby Mercy High. I moved to Northern Virginia in 1977 and had a 31-year career as a Department of Defense contractor and Aerospace Systems Engineer. I now live in Manassas,, VA.

Although I studied art in college and had instruction in drawing, acrylics, and oils, I am mostly self-taught. I enjoy the creative process of art, the challenge of mixing color, mastering the flow of paint from a brush, and the resulting surprises that appear on my canvas.After retirement in 2014, I began painting again and now am pursuing a full-time career as an artist. A long-held dream at last realized

A Virginia native, gemologist, appraiser and watercolorist, I try to use both sides of my brain while keeping a sense of humor. Growing up on the banks of the Potomac River near the Mount Vernon Estate, I was privy to the change of seasons reflected in the water and how that influenced my earlier paintings. 

Travels to Provence ignited my attraction to architectural elements of ancient doorways and find them more interesting as they weather with age.... cracked and patched plaster, mossy green stones and splintered wood tell the story of the structure. 

It brings a sense of familiarity and comfort to me and I want viewers of my work to feel that breathtaking feeling of "deja vu". 

Everyone sees something different in art, I enjoy hearing your thoughts and reactions to what I bring the table. You can also find me on Instagram @katharine.nace.taylor.art