Mary Catherine (Cathy) Ott

I took art in the 6th grade. At the age of 41, I had major surgery and during my recovery time I decided that if I couldn't ride my horses, I would draw them. I sent my spouse, at the time, out to get me a list of supplies and started drawing again. I only work in pencil, charcoal, graphite and I use alot of shading and different techniques of my own. I'm sure there are names for these techniques, but to me, they are just ways of getting my animal portraits to look the way I need them to look. I'm, at this time, trying to learn more about the art world and how to be able to work with colo...

I took art in the 6th grade. At the age of 41, I had major surgery and during my recovery time I decided that if I couldn't ride my horses, I would draw them. I sent my spouse, at the time, out to get me a list of supplies and started drawing again. I only work in pencil, charcoal, graphite and I use alot of shading and different techniques of my own. I'm sure there are names for these techniques, but to me, they are just ways of getting my animal portraits to look the way I need them to look. I'm, at this time, trying to learn more about the art world and how to be able to work with color. I get so much peace and pleasure with drawing these portraits that I could see myself completely engulfing myself into this world. Horses are my heart and soul, but I do draw all animals. I grew up in the horse world and learned their language many, many years ago. So, it would only be natural that I see them in a light that many other people dont. My favorite artist is Marcia Baldwin and if I could ever learn to capture the horses souls the way she does, I feel like my life would be almost complete. I'm learning and as I grow with this, hopefully I'll be able to become a real artist.