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Nathalie Worthington

  • 15 Bolinas Rd, Fairfax, CA 94930, USA

About The Artist

Artist Statement

Since childhood I’ve felt moved to create things, usually drawings and paintings. Now I simply love painting California landscapes, particularly light falling on distant hills. A place will resonate with me and I’ll see the composition take shape and go on to sketch onto canvas or board.  I study the geometry in the rhythms of hills, curves of pathways and placements of trees, abstractions, and most importantly light. The geometry forms into a composition and then I look for the luminescent light that is the inherent excitement in the design. Prompted by the design and initial drawing I consider color by layering seemingly unrelated tones. The objective of this layering is to give my painting, either acrylic or oil, a richer depth and texture.

2023-2024 has been a break through time for me in terms of medium. I’ve strayed from my forty year relationship with acrylic paints to work with water based oils. The acrylics dry fast which is mostly good, unless working a huge area that requires some blending.  The oils are just easier to blend and now that I have longer stretches of working time, having the paint stay workable on the pallet is such a plus. I’m enthralled with the nuance, easier shading, and richer texture.

Tamalpais watershed at Deer Park continues to be my muse. This area feels like home, and gives me a feeling that all is right with the world. Connecting here through painting helps me experience the mystery and sometimes even a sense of exchange. A lot of things need to line up in terms of just the right lay of the land (again, geometry), time of day and where the light is bringing its magic. My style is representational and painterly.

Biography

Nathalie Worthington is a skilled landscape painter, capturing both color and light. Her paintings are held in private collections throughout the United States. A creative “type” born to a family who embraced the arts, Nathalie’s childhood was filled with much time spent with paint, clay, colored pencils, drawing, and art study. She surrounded herself with the paintings of her grandmother on her father’s side, and the mosaic landscapes of her grandfather on her mother’s side. Always keen on drawing, Nathalie studied the works of Durer, Escher, O’Keefe, Dali, and the Impressionists. Her art classes through college were riveting and pure joy… the math and science not so much. She earned a Bachelors degree at Goddard College in Plainfield, Vermont. Painting using acrylics on canvas, can be said to have truly begun at age 28 when she took a painting course with Joseph Solitairo at the Cleveland Institute of Art. Joseph taught her all the techniques: canvas stretching, priming, and toning and initial compositional lay out, perspective, drawing, color theory, intermediate washes, and final glazing for each painting. This one class launched her on a painting journey that would wind through the next three decades. Despite the conscious decision not to count on her art for financial support, she painted almost every day and sold quite a few through galleries and shows. Her early days were spent hunting scenes and birds for inspiration in the Florida marshes, coastlands and vast endless horizons of central Florida. She gravitated to plein air painting by recalling her grandmother’s outdoor water color paintings on their family picnics. Her first and only child, Hudson Worthington Harr was often to be found looking up at his mom at the easel, and down at his lego creations. He continues the family’s proclivity for creativity in his own way, with some physics in the mix. After many years of painting, Nathalie sought to explore more possibilities with her style. She worked toward a freedom from detail that her focus on drawing had evoked, and took a workshop with Albert Handel. Two years later she sought an evolved color pallet and took a workshop with Brian Blood. She didn’t seek fame and fortune as an artist, though has had some humble recognitions and a good number of collectors. She eschewed competitions and an art career to enjoy the pure creative challenge of making paintings. She is currently immersed in California landscapes, painting directly from the inspirations she finds in hills and coastal locations. This new territory is offering the open vistas she sought in Florida and the mystery she sought in the forests of North Carolina with an added helping of dramatic California light. She has included casein paints in order to align more closely with her environmentalism. Education: CCV Montpelier Life Drawing University of Vermont Design and the Environment Bachelor’s of Art from Goddard College Cleveland Institute of Art Fine Art Painting Publication: Paint North Carolina One Woman Shows: Thomasville Cultural Center, Thomasville, GA Cleveland Botanical Center, Cleveland, OH Cleveland Women’s City Club, Cleveland, OH Intown Club, Cleveland, OH Pentagon Gallery, Cleveland, OH Carolina Brewery, NC Saladelia, Durham, NC North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences, Raleigh, NC North Carolina Botanical Museum, Chapel Hill, NC Group Shows: Nuance Galleries, Tampa, FL Michael’s Gallery, St. Petersburg, FL The Pier, St. Petersburg, FL Ten Beach, St. Petersburg, FL Art Center, St. Petersburg, FL One Tampa City Center, Tampa, FL Epcot, Orlando, FL The Art Gallery, Willoughby, OH Sertoma, Raleigh, NC Carrboro Art Center, Carrboro, NC Panzanella, NC Carolina Community College, Pittsboro, NC St. Petersburg Art Center, St. Petersburg, FL North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences, Plein Air, Raleigh, NC North Carolina Arts Incubator, Siler City, NC Greenville Museum of Art, Greenville, NC North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC Glas, Raleigh, NC

Art Medium(s)

Oil Paint, Acrylic Paint

Studio Information

Building Name

Herban Garden

Special Location Or Visiting Instructions

May 5 through June 9 at Herban Garden, otherwise, by appointment

COVID Precautions

Contact Information

Artist Full Name
Contact Email Address
Phone

727-510-7573

Exhibitions & Press

Group Exhibitions

Nuance Galleries, Tampa, FL
Michael’s Gallery, St. Petersburg, FL
The Pier, St. Petersburg, FL
Ten Beach, St. Petersburg, FL
Art Center, St. Petersburg, FL
One Tampa City Center, Tampa, FL
Epcot, Orlando, FL
The Art Gallery, Willoughby, OH
Sertoma, Raleigh, NC
Carrboro Art Center, Carrboro, NC
Panzanella, NC
Carolina Community College, Pittsboro, NC
St. Petersburg Art Center, St. Petersburg, FL
North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences, Plein Air, Raleigh, NC
North Carolina Arts Incubator, Siler City, NC
Greenville Museum of Art, Greenville, NC
North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC
Glas, Raleigh, NC
Marin Museum of Contemporary Art, Novato, CA

Publications

Paint North Carolina

Awards

Chatham Artists Guild: Second Place, Third Place and Honorable Mentions numerous years.

Marin Moca: Honorable Mention

Press

News and Observer, NC

Education

Description

CCV Montpelier
Life Drawing
University of Vermont
Design and the Environment
Bachelor’s of Art from Goddard College
Cleveland Institute of Art
Fine Art Painting

Groups

MOS GALLERY

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May 4-5 & 11-12, 2024

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