Carolyn Favor Kibbe

I was born in Fly Creek NY, over by Cooperstown, and moved back to this beautiful state in 2006. I have degrees in English, Education and Deaf Education from U.C. Berkeley, R.I. College and Boston University. My professional work was divided between teaching and working for newspapers as a reporter, editor and editorial cartoonist. Now I’m so fortunate to be able to paint full time!

I’ve loved oil paints ever since I was a kid–the rich colors, the smell of turpentine, the infinite flexibility of the medium–and people of all types and ages are my favorite subject. For convenience, I work mostly from my own photographs; live sitters are a rarity, plus fleeting expressions are easier to hold onto in a photo. I sketch in paint directly on the canvas, and my style is what is called painterly realism. Composition is the most important, followed by color and draftsmanship. A painting should be fresh and beautiful for its brushwork, interesting both close up and from a distance.

We’ve all seen pictures that give us “The Feeling,” and that’s my goal, to catch life on the canvas.

To view more of Carolyn’s work go to: ckibbe.com