I am a member of the Paducah Area Painter Alliance in Paducah, KY and a member of the Paradise Art Center in Paradise, CA. With a Master in Art Education, I have taught art for over thirty years. Teaching from the kindergarten to junior college levels, has given me a respect for everyone's ability to appreciate fine art.
I retired from teaching in the public school system in 2005 and now happily devote my time to creating my own artistic expressions.
As a lover of animals, nature and travel, I try to reflect a deep reverence for life in my paintings. I currently divide my time between southern Illinois with it's wide rivers and wooded hills, and the ponderosa covered foothills of northern California.
One of my favorite themes is painting animal portraits and trying to capture their essence in colored pencil on paper. I also love plein aire paintings of landscapes captured in watercolor and then completed in the studio using acrylics on canvas.
Like most artists, I am fascinated by the sights and colors that assault my senses and I constantly seek to translate them into two dimensional surfaces.
I always travel with my camera to provide resources for my next painting. Someone asked me recently in an interview which of my paintings were my favorite, I responded that it is always the last one I completed. And I am forever excited about the next one.
RESUME: Bachelor of Art Education from Southern Illinois University, Carbondale, IL
Master of Art Education from Murray State University, Murrya, KY
Workshops taught by Flo Barnett,Evonne Cramer, David Mallory, Barbara Ramsey, Linda Oslin and Dennis Torzecski
Exhibitions: Wheeler Gallery in Paradise, CA
PAPA Gallery in Paducah, KY
Vera Rodgers joined Fine Art America on November 2nd, 2009.