“I’m self-taught,” announces Kathryn Stats, painter of sun-washed desert landscapes and vivid still lifes, then quickly adds, “which didn’t mean I didn’t take any lessons; it means I didn’t graduate in anything!”

Stats’ artistic journey was unconventional from the start. “I have a great uncle by marriage [LeConte Stewart], who was a fine, fine, well-thought-of artist,” she says. “I rode horses in the summer from morning until night in the same county he lived in. We had his paintings on our walls, and I tended to see landscapes through his eyes. I really think that had an influence.”

Initially, that influence was subliminal at best. “I’m not one of those people who started out drawing,” Stats says. “I would just sort of daydream in my classes and draw pictures of horses from memory.”

Although Stats had a casual interest in art, she never considered it as a career option, when she was young.

Kathryn Stats (Arizona)

Pear Patterns
Oil
18″x24″

“I am constantly searching for ‘the great prickly pear’ motif. I revisit southern Utah and Arizona often to renew my passion for these happy bursts of shape and color.”

Kathryn Stats (Arizona)

High Country Autumn
Oil
30″x40″

“I happened upon this scene while visiting the Glacier National Park area (after season). Again, what was calling to me was the brilliant light shining on gold and yellow trees, with violets and greens in the shadows—oranges running to yellow, greens running to yellow, and violet running to blue.”