By permission of the artist, The Cyber Art Show is pleased to feature the first of two 12-piece exhibitions of works by contemporary American landscape painter Terri Taber (born 1953 in California, USA).

 

Terri Taber grew up in Southern California, leaving Los Angeles in her late teens to attend University of California Santa Barbara where she earned a bachelor degree in art and painting.  After the university, she attended Santa Barbara City College and obtained an associate degree in nursing and worked in the Santa Barbara community as a registered nurse for 25 years.   

 

In the late 1990’s Terri discovered pastels and has been thrilled with this medium ever since.  She currently continues her art education with a variety of workshops and classes and works on a mentor basis with notable artists Richard McKinley and Bert Collins.

 

The countryside is Terri's friend, companion and counselor.  Its beauty never fails to amaze and delight her. The goal in her paintings is to impart this splendor of the outdoors so others can enjoy this wonder in their homes. She is able to capture the lighting, contrasts, textures, and mystery of the landscape in her pastel paintings. 

 

Pastel is an art medium in the form of a stick, consisting of pure powdered pigment and a binder. Pastel sticks are available in varying degrees of hardness, the softer varieties having more pigment and less binder. Terri's pastel paintings are made using pastel sticks on sanded abrasive papers which hold the powder in the grain of the paper. Watercolor or oil paint and mineral spirits are sometimes used to paint under the pastel. Pastel paintings are quite durable with a high pigment concentration which allows for very saturated colors. 

 

Terri belongs to the Pastel Society of the West Coast, Pastel Society of the Gold Coast and the Santa Barbara Art Association. She contributes annually to the Children’s Creative Project with a large chalk painting at the I Madonnari festival in Santa Barbara every Memorial Day. 

 

She shows her paintings locally at Gallery Los Olivos as well as other group venues in and around Santa Barbara.  Her paintings can be found hanging in homes throughout the world.