The Artwork of Denise Brown - The Trail of Painted Ponies

Artist Statement
Whether my subject is an animal, architecture, or landscape, I try to capture the essence and character of what I am painting, almost like telling a story about the subject and the reason why I painted that painting. A rendering of a horse or home becomes a portrait, but not as detailed as a photograph. I look for shapes and relationships of colors to emphasize that story or moment in time.

Bio
A seacoast New Hampshire native, I am a watercolor artist living in Portsmouth, NH. Landscapes, animals and architecture are my favorite subjects. Many of my paintings are on location en plein air, capturing a sense of place and color. I love to paint on location anywhere, especially at the ocean or in the Caribbean. I have been commissioned for many pet portraits, house portraits and architectural renderings in watercolors and pen and ink for the past 25 years.

I graduated from the University of New Hampshire in 1976, with a self designed art degree including drawing, painting, sculpting, architectural rendering, and marketing. My advisor/art professor was John Hatch. His watercolors and his personality motivated my art career. I was fortunate to travel to the Caribbean with John, his wife and 18 other vacationers/adverturers when we saw the British Virgin Islands from the Romance, a 110 ft. Brigantine I have studied with many well known artists: Robert Steedman, Zoltan Szabo, Christopher Schink, Steven Quiller, Charlie Goodhue, Robert Chase, Art Balderacci, and many local instructors.

In 2004, I was commissioned to paint the birds of Peru for Amazonia Lodge, a bird refuge in Peru. I also painted the birds of Jamaica which is to be used on t-shirts as a scholarship fundraiser in Jamaican elementary schools. In 2005 my artwork was selected for a holiday bulb as a fundraiser for the town of Durham, NH for their holiday parade and lighting. I have been drawing and painting animals, landscapes and architectural subjects all of my life. I am a member of Durham Art Association and Seacoast Artist Association and have exhibited paintings at many regional venues, artgalleries and street fairs and in 2004 had a one-woman show at Gallery Tactora in Kittery, Maine. For the past three years, I have organized the Fuller Foundation’s Fuller Gardens Annual Art Show.

Art Projects
- One of 20 Finalists in the Trail of Painted Ponies National Art Contest 2006. Eleventh in the country and the only New England artist in the finalist group. See www.trailofpaintedponies.com for more information.
- Divine Cuisines International Restaurant — Painted Murals on 4 walls of international scenes
- 7 foot tall Giraffe for International Festival at UNH — Design,Construction, (wood, wire, and paper mache materials) and Acrylic Painting of Giraffe
- Sand Sculpture Judge at 2005 & 2007 Hampton Beach Sand Sculpting Contest with internationally known sculptors
- Children's Book Artist and Designer of
  7 books and coloring books
  (themes: famous horses - Humane Society; smoking - Samantha Skunk; cats - Ted the Cat, children’s tourist spots - Chamber of Commerce, learning about money and banking for children - Service Credit Union, what happens when you go to the hospital - Darmouth-Hitchcock Hospital)
- “Abenaki, the Indian Pony” children’s book self published and illustrated
- Adult art demo guest artist
- Children’s Camp Workshop Art Instructor
- Graphic Designer since 1975 — logos, t-shirts, signs, posters, banners, ads, brochures, trade show items and booths, and anything printable. (I understand deadlines, computer graphics, and marketing.)
- Owner of ad-cetera graphics in Portsmouth, NH
- House, architecture, people and pet portrait artist (watercolor painting,acrylics, pen and ink)
- I have been drawing and painting animals, landscapes and architecturalsubjects all of my life.