A Sunday afternoon with Marty Kutas

One of my favorite experiences when getting to know an artwork is learning the stories of the artist as well. On a Sunday afternoon in November, I had the opportunity to talk with local artist, Marty Kutas. She is a watercolorist, whose passion for painting has flourished throughout her life and has been a large part of the Niagara Frontier Watercolor Society (NFWS) for many years.

Marty has a passion for painting using different techniques and believes in painting subjects that draw her in. She has a love for nature and the world around her and this care is reflected in her work. “I paint the happy side of life, to bring attention to how beautiful life is”, Marty revealed about her work. She does just that with her floral paintings by highlighting the true beauty of the flowers with exquisite colors and textures. Her travel also influences her subject matter.

When talking with artists I am inspired by the stories they tell about their work and the path that brought them to the finished work. Marty enlightened my view of her artwork by sharing some of her stories and memories with me. She enjoys taking her experiences and bringing them to life. For example, in the painting, All Steamed Up, Marty described her experience of the scene before she painted it and reminisced of the one day excursion she took to the Arcade and Attica Railroad. She described her excitement as the train started up and began to letting out steam.

Marty is very active in the art community. In addition to her involvement with the Niagara Frontier Watercolor Society, she teaches beginner watercolor classes at her home. I asked her what she was currently working on with students and she responded, “to not create just brown tree trunks but to use unexpected color”. After this discussion she showed me a landscape painting featuring a tree that she was working on. She brought out intense colors in the tree trunk and branches that made it stand out while pulling from the colors in the landscape surrounding it.

View more of Marty’s work on her website: http://www.mkutaswatercolors.com.

 –Ally Spongr