Opening Reception for "Solstice"

We invite you to our newest exhibit by Katherine Blakeslee entitled “Solstice.” This exhibition brings together an immersive body of watercolor landscapes that reflect the artist’s lifelong fascination with the ways people relate to the natural world. Working exclusively in watercolor, the artist uses delicate washes, layered transparencies, and atmospheric color to capture both the physical details of each scene and the emotional resonance that nature evokes.

Rather than simply depicting scenery, the artist treats each landscape as a living conversation—between land and memory, between human presence and environmental stillness, between the seen and the felt. Soft edges and flowing pigments suggest the fluidity of experience, while subtle marks and fine detail anchor each piece in a specific place. The resulting works balance realism with intuition, creating images that feel both familiar and dreamlike.

Central to the exhibition is the idea that nature is not something separate from us, but a mirror in which we recognize our own inner landscapes. The artist draws inspiration from quiet trails, coastal horizons, and overlooked pockets of green where daily life meets the wild. Viewers are encouraged to notice how light shifts through trees, how water reflects the sky, and how open spaces create room for reflection.

Through these paintings, the exhibit invites visitors to consider their own connection to the natural world—how it restores, inspires, and shapes us. Each piece becomes an entry point for contemplation, offering a moment of calm in a fast-moving world and reminding us of the profound, timeless relationship between people and place.

From the Artist:

“December is a time for reflection, transition, and anticipation of new beginnings”

Weather changes with the seasons remind us of our shifting surroundings. Light mysteriously changes everything, sometimes in minutes, seconds or slowly over a long day or a season. I have always been fascinated by how water, land and sky interact with each other. Be it bright, hazy, or hidden by a storm the horizon -- that magical line between the sky and land or sea continues to captivate me. The horizon links, rather than divides, inviting us to dream about the other side.

After a long career in international development and human rights, I began to paint and fell in love with watercolor for its ability to capture mysterious and sometimes other-worldly moods. The challenge of this medium lies in shared creativity among the artist, the water, and the paint, with none having complete control. Water and pigments flow across the paper on their own, leaving the viewer to watch and wonder.

Paintings in this exhibit may be serene or chaotic, still or moving. Immovable mountains may be juxtaposed with birds in flight and the passage of clouds. Pale blue and rust colors punctuated by dark and deep marks reflect winter.

Nature is a constant reminder of how our interactions with the world around us reflect the past and present, and foreshadow the future, a recognition I hope to inspire in the viewer. The beauty of nature can be destroyed by epidemics, earthquakes, floods, storms, fires, and human conflict. Thus, we are reminded of how little control we often have over our surroundings and that we are stewards not owners of the earth.