Asheville Gallery of Art: Carol Branton Morrow

Cold Mountain Blues, pastel with watercolor underpainting

I can’t remember art not being part of my life, so it must have been very early when I started drawing and painting. I do remember my parents sharing with me at every opportunity the importance and love of God through nature. My father particularly was focused on the overall beauty of the world we inhabit. I quickly developed a love for all things natural. This love has continued throughout my life and has lead to the need to record visually the emotions I feel when seeing such beauty. I vividly remember laying in the grass on my back, maybe I was 5 or 6, watching the sunlight move through new spring leaves. The peace and joy I experienced then is what I experience now when I choose a subject to paint.

Transparency, luminosity and the overall beauty of light striking and often moving through objects inspires me to try to capture the feeling of experiencing beauty for the first time. That first “Wow” moment is what I strive to share in my paintings. I begin many of my paintings “en plein air” - which not only is a challenge but a motivating experience. Painting in the “moment” provides me with an overwhelming connection with the beauty of God’s creation.