Catalina has spent most of her life in Houston, TX but now works from Seattle, WA. She is a member of the Puget Sound Group Northwest Artists, Women Painters of Washington, and the Plein Air Washington Artists. Her family is enjoying all the natural places nearby.  The time spent with her family on walks, trips, and adventures definitely influences her work.  She also draws inspiration from looking within, into emotions and feelings of nostalgia.  Outside of making art she enjoys reading self-improvement and non-fiction books, playing tennis, and hiking.

Catalina has been making representational work for 20 yrs.  Her latest work includes more abstract, emotional, moody pieces.  She has developed a new style which encourages more impulsive, automatic steps and strokes.  Her work is about letting the result surprise you after putting automatic and impulsive actions in a sequence.  It’s about satisfying one’s impulses and making the mark that comes from within. Catalina’s paintings are capsules of color and an intuitive process of layering collage with mixed media.  What drives her to create these paintings is color with its unlimited possibilities. 

I will always be inspired by nature with it’s light, color, and infinite beauty but also continue to create abstracts as a liberating way to look within myself, be loose with mark-making, and discover exciting unplanned moments. I mostly use acrylics on stretched canvas but may mix in other media such as collage, paint markers, or oil pastels.  In addition to various brushes I also use brayers and found objects to make marks.  If I’m feeling that it will work, I may combine the two styles.

When I’m inspired by nature I stick to one medium in order to focus on the subject, colors, and brushstrokes.  When I’m inspired to play with materials and be spontaneous, I paint an abstract.  My subject and focus are different.  Both have live experiences and connections but in different ways.