Watercolor artist featured at Pittsford gallery

Since she can’t bottle sunlight, Rochester artist Kathy Armstrong is striving for the next best thing: light on paper. 

Armstrong, the featured artist for March at Pittsford Fine Art, said transparent watercolor is her favorite media she works with because of what it can communicate. 

“Light touches the world and immediately brings it to life,” she said. “It shapes and forms everything in its path. Trying to capture that light is the driving force behind my love of creating art.”

Armstrong’s work is featured at Pittsford Fine Art, where she is a founding artist. In addition to studio painting, Armstrong is a devotee of plein air painting — painting from life, outdoors. 

After working most of her career as a graphic designer in Wisconsin and Colorado, Armstrong returned to her native upstate New York in 2013 with more time to commit to fine art. She took some classes from Colorado artist Julia Jordan, but is mostly self-taught. 

Armstrong participated in the Finger Lakes Plein Air Festival and Adirondack Plein Air Festival, among others. She moved to the Rochester area in late 2017, where she is a member of the Greater Rochester Plein Air Painters, Niagara Frontier Watercolor Society and Rochester Art Club. She received the Alice E. Koret Award in the Memorial Art Gallery’s 2019 Finger Lakes Exhibition. 

Pittsford Fine Art, 4 N. Main St., is open from noon to 6 p.m. on Tuesdays-Thursdays, noon to 8 p.m. on Fridays and 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturdays-Sundays. Parking is available in front of the gallery or at the nearby public parking lot. Visit pittsfordfineart.com for information.