Adding Beauty to your Life . . .
About the Artist:
Kathleen Rietz is an artist living just outside of Chicago. Art has always come naturally to Kathleen, so it's no wonder art is the path she has chosen for both her career and her personal journey. That path is a gently winding road with many detours: freelance designer, children's book illustrator, cake decorator, teacher, watercolor artist, photographer, product development manager, pet portrait artist and currently impressionistic abstract painter. Her paintings are collected across North America, New Zealand, Malta, Germany and Great Britain.
Although Kathleen is an alum of The American Academy of Art in Chicago, she is largely self-taught. Her current work reflects decades of observing the works of other artists and experimenting with different media. After making realistic art most of her life, Kathleen has chosen to step away from the confines of realism and make art based on universal feelings and the need for free expression. Kathleen's latest passion is teaching art to aspiring artists. One of her greatest joys is seeing her students' enjoyment and confidence in their art soar.
Aside from her lifelong love of art, Kathleen loves science and nature. Many of her paintings reflect the gardens she grew up in and the peace she finds when exploring the quiet nature of forests.
Kathleen Rietz is an artist living just outside of Chicago. Art has always come naturally to Kathleen, so it's no wonder art is the path she has chosen for both her career and her personal journey. That path is a gently winding road with many detours: freelance designer, children's book illustrator, cake decorator, teacher, watercolor artist, photographer, product development manager, pet portrait artist and currently impressionistic abstract painter. Her paintings are collected across North America, New Zealand, Malta, Germany and Great Britain.
Although Kathleen is an alum of The American Academy of Art in Chicago, she is largely self-taught. Her current work reflects decades of observing the works of other artists and experimenting with different media. After making realistic art most of her life, Kathleen has chosen to step away from the confines of realism and make art based on universal feelings and the need for free expression. Kathleen's latest passion is teaching art to aspiring artists. One of her greatest joys is seeing her students' enjoyment and confidence in their art soar.
Aside from her lifelong love of art, Kathleen loves science and nature. Many of her paintings reflect the gardens she grew up in and the peace she finds when exploring the quiet nature of forests.
Artist Statement:
Nature heals, it inspires, it transports us from the noise of the everyday world as it refreshes our souls. My floral abstract paintings celebrate the intrinsic beauty found in nature and everyday life. My paintings have an atmospheric quality to them, and I am subtly influenced by the French Impressionist painters Pierre-August Renoir and Claude Monet, as well as American painter Georgia O'Keefe. I grew up attending the Art Institute of Chicago with my mother Carol, who loved art, nurtured my creative spirit and passed down to me her rich knowledge of art history. I am oftentimes told that my paintings make the viewer feel joyful and evoke a sense of calm. I believe in approaching each painting I create with love, and creating from the heart. Every painting of mine is a work of my soul displayed on canvas.
~ Kathleen Rietz, Fine Artist
Nature heals, it inspires, it transports us from the noise of the everyday world as it refreshes our souls. My floral abstract paintings celebrate the intrinsic beauty found in nature and everyday life. My paintings have an atmospheric quality to them, and I am subtly influenced by the French Impressionist painters Pierre-August Renoir and Claude Monet, as well as American painter Georgia O'Keefe. I grew up attending the Art Institute of Chicago with my mother Carol, who loved art, nurtured my creative spirit and passed down to me her rich knowledge of art history. I am oftentimes told that my paintings make the viewer feel joyful and evoke a sense of calm. I believe in approaching each painting I create with love, and creating from the heart. Every painting of mine is a work of my soul displayed on canvas.
~ Kathleen Rietz, Fine Artist
