K HARTMANN

K Hartmann is a painter working primarily in oils and watercolors. Trained in oil techniques of the old masters, she builds many layers of complimentary color in her oil work and creates depth to an otherwise flat color field. Not shy to use color, she borrows easily from the palettes of Gauguin and Matisse. Although two dimensional design and composition are of great concern to her, K is a figurative painter whose subjects are allegorically narrative in nature. The epic and heroic are of interest to her; she believes there are universal human stories and lessons, that in their transcending of time, are intrinsically beautiful. 

K was born and raised in Lancaster, PA – Amish country – to a home-economics major mother and an engineer father. She spent most days literally playing in Mennonite cornfields behind her home; she'd climb the highest sycamore trees she could find (or sometimes fall from) and competed with the neighbor kids in "kick the can" at night. Drawing and painting were her passion and confidence as she grew up in the public school art room.

Earning her BFA in Art from Carnegie-Mellon University in 1983, K was able to study oil painting with some of the faculty greats still teaching old master painting techniques: Herbert Olds, Harry Holland, and Mary Weidner. In a hey-day of abstract expressionism and a male-dominated art world, K was a young woman painter with an old soul; she persevered with quiet grace believing Art should somehow stand the test of time, and simply be beautiful. 

K exhibits in group shows in the East, including PA, CT, and NY state where she settled for some years in the artist colony of Sugar Loaf, NY. There she opened her own studio gallery, Count Sheep, while honing her painting skills in oil and watercolor. K Hartmann's work has been acquired over the years by numerous private collectors who still enjoy painterly technique and beautiful composition. K now resides in coastal New England, where she paints on-site watercolors of the sea and sky.