About the Artist

ARTIST STATEMENT
I love painting people, getting just the right expression in their eyes, and leaving a little mystery, telling a story. Even when I'm painting a flower bloom, my thought is to give it personality. Sometimes just the curl of a petal does that, makes it flirty or serene. I paint with color, lots of color, colors you wouldn't expect, unusual combinations. But when I reach the finish, the step-back, I'm done, all those strokes of pastel blend to believability, and they are beautiful.

Pastel is the only medium I work with; it's too beautiful to try anything else. Its color choices go from subtle lights and intense darks to wild and vibrant. The way I paint with pastel I can achieve anything from a glowing luminosity to thick impasto that looks like an oil painting. 

My travel to other countries influences me every time I'm at the easel. I've loved painting the people of the Maasai Mara and the Middle Eastern cultures and landscapes. Playing golf has helped me really look at the color green and find all its variety, yellow to blue. Hard to capture, but I'm using it in my golf course paintings. 

I've studied with the great pastel artists Daniel Greene, Bob Rohm, Doug Dawson, Bob Gerbracht, and Anatoly Dverin. Some of their advice finds its way into each of my paintings.

BIO
Texas artist Carolyn Hancock has lived in the beautiful coastline of the South most of her life. Her journey into art began as a response to, “What do I want to do with my time when we move out of the country?”  Intrigued by an interest in portrait painting, she studied for a year in Los Angeles and credits Mission: Renaissance with her solid basis in drawing.

After moving to Japan, Carolyn learned the art of portraiture and pastel techniques through the videos of master pastelist Daniel Greene. “His method of drawing the face was an I-can-do-that moment. I had studied different ways, from ovals to puzzles. This made one made sense to me.”

Carolyn painted her first portrait with pastel, and has never wavered from the beauty of pastel. Her home glows with completed paintings of people and landscapes, ranging from quiet serenity to vivid contrasts of color. Paintings of the people of Kenya, highlighting the ochres of the Maasai culture, have been her most sought after series. Travels throughout the Middle East continue to influence her color choices. She ventures from her easel for her other loves of golf, writing, reading, and travel.

Carolyn is an Associate Member of the Pastel Society of America. She is also a member of the Pastel Society of Southeast Texas, American Women Artists, and the Portrait Society of America. Her work has won many awards and is in collections in the United States, the Middle East, Australia, British Columbia, and Japan. Carolyn is a blogger and author of the newsletter Scrumble, and her articles have appeared in Fine Art Views daily newsletter.

EDUCATION AND PORTRAIT, FIGURE, AND LANDSCAPE WORKSHOPS
2004 Jerry Hunsinger
2002 Anatoly Dverin
2002 Rose Ann Samuelson
2001 Jerry Newman
2000 Bob Rohm
1998 Madlyn Woolwich
1998 Doug Dawson
1997 Daniel Greene
1995 Bob Gerbracht
1993-1994   California: UCLA; Pasadena City College; Mission: Renaissance; Joe Severino

MEMBER, Pastel Society of America (Associate Status)
MEMBER, Pastel Society of Southeast Texas (Website and Newsletter Chair)
MEMBER, American Women Artists
MEMBER, Portrait Society of America
MEMBER, Texas Portrait Network
MEMBER, Art League of Fort Bend
 (Signature Status 2002 Pastel Society of North Florida, Ft. Walton Beach, FL)
 (Member of Excellence Status 2000, Southeastern Pastel Society, Atlanta, GA)

PUBLICATION: Best of America Pastel Artists Vol. II, Kennedy Publishing, 2009

SELECTED ARTICLES  
“Better than ever,” panews.com, March 29, 2006
“TAM grand reopening like phoenix rising,” The News, March 29, 2006
“Texas Artists Museum starts over, over again,” The News, March 26, 2006
“Cultural Damage. TAM, other refining centers, clean up Rita's Remains,” 
     Port Arthur News, Oct 14, 2005
“A Special Evening of Art—the Gulf Coast National,” Port Arthur News Entertainer
     October 28, 2005
“Art exhibit highlights museums' cooperation,” The Examiner, October 28, 2005
“Picture Perfect,” Port Arthur News Life Section, June 19, 2005
“Faces and Places in Pastel,” Victoria Advocate, June 3, 2005
“The Shining Artist,” Port Arthur News Life Section, February 6, 2005
“Portrait of the artist as a woman,” Be Magazine, Beaumont Enterprise, August 2004
“What’s Going On?” Life, Port Arthur News, August 22, 2004
“Red Hats, White Magnolias,” Savor, Beaumont Enterprise, July 2004
“Art League: The jury is in,” Beaumont Journal Life & Leisure, February 2004
“A work of art,” Port Arthur News, October 9, 2003
“Artists’ Market,” Off ramp, Vol. 1, No. 2, Southeast Texas Arts Council
     Spring/Summer 2003
“Lyssie & Lace,” Port Arthur News The Entertainer, January 21, 2003
“For the Art Lover,” Port Arthur News, October 12, 2002
“Creating Worlds,” Port Arthur News Sunday Life, August 19, 2001
“Maasai Mama Portrait Wins First at TriState,” Port Arthur News 
     The Entertainer, Jan 16, 2001

SELECTED EXHIBITIONS
2013   Art League of Fort Bend, Best of Show
2012   Cherry Art First Annual Pastel Classic Invitational
2012   The Woodlands High School Art Trust, The Woodlands, TX
2011   Jack Meier Gallery, Houston, TX
2006  
Texas Artists Museum, 13th Gulf Coast National, Port Arthur, TX
Austin Pastel Society, Sixth Annual Juried Membership, 1st Place in Show
2005  
The Nave, Victoria Regional Museum Association, Victoria, TX, Solo Exhibit 
Pastel Society of Southeast Texas, 1st Intern'l Juried, Clute, TX, F-W Publications Award
Austin Pastel Society, 5th Juried Membership Show, Award
Beaumont Art League, Tri-State National, Beaumont, TX
Texas Artists Museum, Gulf Coast National, Port Arthur, TX, Hon. Mention
Beaumont Art League, Portrait Show, Beaumont, TX, First Place 
2004  
Texas Artists Museum, Port Arthur, TX, Solo Exhibit: Red Hats & White Magnolias
Texas Artists Museum, Gulf Coast Natl, Port Arthur, First Place
Austin Pastel Society, 4th Juried Membership Show, Austin, TX, 2nd in Show
Beaumont Art League, Tri-State Natl, Beaumont, TX, First Place
University of Mobile, Art with a Southern Drawl, Mobile, AL
Beaumont Art League, Neches River Festival, Honorable Mention
2003    
Texas Artists Museum, Gulf Coast National, Port Arthur, TX, People's Choice
Beaumont Art League, Tri-State National, Beaumont, TX
Texas Artists Museum, Membership Show, Best of Show 
2002  
Associated Pastelists on the Web, artshow.com/apow, 3rd Annual OnLine
Pastel Society of North Florida, Biennial Natl, Ft. Walton Beach
Texas Artists Museum, Gulf Coast National, Port Arthur, TX
Beaumont Art League, Neches River Festival, TX, First Place
2001  
Bosque Conservatory Art Council, 16th Annual Art Exhibition, Clifton, TX, Gold Medal
Texas Artists Museum, Port Arthur, TX, Solo Exhibit: the travel series
Texas Artists Museum, Gulf Coast National, Port Arthur, TX, People’s Choice
Beaumont Art League, Tri-State Plus ’01, Beaumont, First Place
Beaumont Art League, Biennial Portrait Show, TX, First Place
2000 
Southeastern Pastel Society, Biennial International, Atlanta, GA, Jerry’s Artarama Award
Pastel Society of North Florida, Biennial Natl, Ft. Walton Beach
Texas Artists Museum, Gulf Coast National, Port Arthur, TX
1999 
National Society of Artists, 17th National Juried Show, League City, TX, Dick Blick Award
Texas Artists Museum, Gulf Coast Natl, Port Arthur, Third Place
1998 
Southeastern Pastel Society, Biennial Internl Open, Atlanta 
Pastel Society of North Florida, Biennial Natl, Ft. Walton Beach 
1996  Southeastern Pastel Society, Biennial Internl Open, Atlanta
1996-1998   Fine Arts Exhibitions, Dhahran and AlKhobar, Saudi Arabia
1995  
20th International Exhibition, Japan International Artists
     Metropolitan Museum of Art, Tokyo
Internatl Culture Festival, Kaiko Kinen Kaikan, Yokohama, Japan