About the Artist

Shelby K Cook was born and raised in the Pacific Northwest of the United States, where the west coast mountains and forests fostered a lifelong love of nature. She studied fine art in college, earning her BFA from Western Washington University along with a BA in Art History. After graduating, Cook moved to Seattle, WA, where she continues to paint and run her studio practice. Traveling when able, she brings her portable easel to paint en plein air in different countries and locations.

Artist Statement

Shelby uses contemporary realism to explore facets of her life. Focused on using painting as a way to retain memories, she draws inspiration from her travels and experiences. A connection to nature stemming from a childhood love of forests means she seeks interesting environments to inspire her, allowing her recollections of a place to alter the image as she paints in order to tangibly capture memories. With her portraiture and interior work, she is focused on exploring the relationship between people and the spaces they inhabit, trying to capture liminal spaces and transitional moments. Nostalgia plays a large role, and she uses photos she has taken while traveling and older photos of herself taken by people she loves as a starting point to explore her own past and place on earth.

About the Artist

Cat Stanfield has been drawing and painting since childhood and  formally studied design and fine arts at the Design Institute of San  Diego and San Diego  City College.  Although she was born and raised in California, her years working in the fashion industry as a professional  top model  for the international legacy agency, Elite Model Management required  her to relocate to New York City and Paris, France in the 1990’s.  During these years she  continued to develop her artistic  exploration while maintaining a  successful career being featured in fashion magazines, catalogs and  commercial advertising campaigns worldwide. The influence those years  had in shaping Cathy’s creative style are prominent in her work which reflects a flair for fashion, feminine beauty and a dream-like sense of  intrigue and sensuality. Her preferred mediums are a mix of inks, acrylic,  gouache and photography.  Cathy now resides in the Pacific Northwest nestled in the Olympic Peninsula  just outside of Sequim, WA.

Artist Statement

As a mixed media artist I enjoy the  interplay between mediums and the effects of combining analog with digital illustrative techniques.  For painting, my preferred mediums are inks, goauche and acrylic.  Primarily a figurative artist, my work reflects  feminine beauty and sensuality.

What is your “Dreamland” ?

My Dreamland is serenity. It is the joy of simple pleasures and the freedom from the noise of today’s  chaos and tribalism. Dreamland for me is composition of unity, a space of kindness, a texture of harmony, a linear dialogue that moves us forward and not backwards and a bright ray of light found in the dark.  I connect this to my work through color choices and creating images of strong women who own their imperfections so perfectly.  I find my dreamland in my art studio, the place I love being and love doing what is not possible for me to not ‘do’.

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