Let me introduce myself - I am Kathleen Ertz, retiree, a lover of wine, who always had a love for art.  Art is something I enjoy creating, collecting and having as part of my life.  Often, I think about painting so many things, either derived from my observations or thoughts or from both.  But in fact, I realize that it is my soul I want to paint.  Like how one hears a familiar tune, and it wakes a memory, or comes across a scent that stirs an emotion.  

 

I want my work to produce reactions, whatever the viewer may feel.  Like when I gaze at the great Masters works and become awestruck.  I sense their soul, their angst, their love and whatever drove them to create.  I was humbled by Michaelangelo’s Sistine Chapel, but at the same time repelled by the opulence of the color he used, knowing that its cost could have provided for many in need.  I look at Marie Cassatt’s portrait of a little girl in a chair and sense Marie’s tenderness towards her.  She was not Marie’s child, but one of a dear friend.  I feel the frenzy in Picasso’s Guernica and the loneliness in Edward Hopper’s painting, The Nighthawks.  

 

This is what I feel art should do, allow the viewer to feel something, because to feel is to live, it is life.  Van Gogh only had his brushes and paints to soothe his anxiety.  Looking at his works, you see someone who wanted to paint life, as if it was the only way he could be a part of life.  To view his brushstrokes and the brilliance of his colors seems to me that he is screaming to the world to see the beauty he sees.  So if I can succeed in giving voice to my work, then I know I am an artist. That’s what it’s all about Charlie Brown!