Show Us Your Kitties art exhibit in Red Bluff
Fifteen years ago Christine Hartmann wasn’t interested in art, or even liked art for that matter.
“No, not really, like it wasn’t even on my screen,” said Hartmann, who is the featured artist for the Tehama County Art Council’s March Exhibit, “Show Us Your Kitties,” celebrating wild and domestic felines.
The council invites the community to come meet Hartmann, often referred to as the Cat Lady, and enjoy her paintings in which she beautifully captures the essence of her beloved feline friends.
Hartman said she loves cats because they are independent, but loving.
“There is something about them that is free. They don’t make themselves a captive to life,” she added.
One of her favorite cats is an abandoned one that came to her home and kept looking in the window.
“He chose us and became a part of our family,” Hartmann explained.
It was a friend with young children who invited Hartman and her two young sons over for the afternoon to paint, showing her some basic techniques and how to hold her brush that introduced her to the world of painting.
After that painting session, Hartmann suddenly exclaimed, “Yes, this is me.”
She immersed herself in painting and hasn’t stopped since. She believes her art talent was always there but for whatever reason it was dormant until just right at that moment.
Hartmann has continued to be a self-taught artist, developing her own style in figure drawing by watching youtube videos and taking some online art workshops. She and her friend attended an art class with a professional painter.
According to Hartmann, she is always learning and growing.
She is trained as a medical physicist and works for the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory as a Workforce Enablement leader for one of their three major programs.
“We need creativity,” she said. “Painting really helped me to get out of my box. The worst box is the one you don’t know you’re in.”
Hartmann believes creativity is what helps solve problems and painting is ideal for that thought process. She utilizes that process today to paint her way out of technical and personal problems. She says painting is an area where you are free to try experimenting, taking risks to see what happens when you mix color together. It has helped her to take risks in life.
Hartmann hopes those who view her work will take away a sense of peace that they are loved freely by felines. She believes it is such an important foundational thing to have a vibrant art culture in the community and hopes it will continue to grow.
An artist reception will be held 5:30-8 p.m., Friday, March 8, at the Tehama Arts Gallery, 328 Oak St., Red Bluff.
Gallery members will also add their feline art to the exhibit.
Regular gallery hours are Friday-Saturdays, 11 a.m.-5 p.m., with the Show Us Your Kitties exhibit running through March 23.