Elise RitterArtist Elise Ritter

Philosophy

 


Blue Harbor Fascinated with color and luminosity, Elise portrays subjects in what has been called "jewel tones." For her watercolors, she brushes, sprays, and even pours paint directly onto the paper to create fluid scenes as the colors intermingle. Sometimes she employs a batik-style resist method to add successive glazes and increase the intensity of her colors.

For her collages-abstract images that mirror nature-she combines textured Asian papers, bits of watercolor papers, and natural elements such as ginkgo leaves and ancient shells. Again, the palate is vibrant and varied.

Rosegill Harbor

The beauty of the Rappahannock River and the Chesapeake Bay area continually inspires Elise. She has been enlightened by her travels throughout China, Western Europe, Eastern Europe, the British Isles, Greece, Turkey, Russia, the Caribbean, the United States and Canada. She lived for several years in Germany and Austria.

Her favorite artists are Gustav Klimt, Egon Schiele, James Whistler, Edouard Vuillard; watercolorists Charles Demuth and Alice Ravenel Huger Smith; and photographers Elliot Porter and Joel Meyerowitz.

Yellow, Purple, and Gingkos

Elise is indebted to the art teachers with whom she has studied through the years, including Middlesex County's treasure, Kathleen Noffsinger; various artists at the Torpedo Factory Art School in Alexandria, VA.; and her mother-in-law, Margaret Gibson, an English watercolorist of great style. She has also learned from her creative children, her husband (whom she first met in art class), her craft-loving mother, her Nova Scotian grandmother, and her enormously supportive friends.

As always, in loving memory of Mary Lind Jorn (1953-2004).

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