Pet Portrait - Cat by Gena Destri in Kyle

An award winning contemporary impressionist landscape painter, I create paintings that have roots in realism, energy and feeling. Using different materials depending on the effect I see most desirable (oils, watercolor, and/or acrylic with possible additions of drawing materials), I work from life, en plein air, or compiled photographs and then finish up from memory in my home studio. I gravitate toward producing figurative, abstract and landscape work equally, however, my current work has been almost exclusively landscape based. I feel there is an ancestral quality to the land, water and sky, and I am seeking to connect us, the viewer, to it’s memories, wisdom and unique beauty that changes with every season and every passing year. I display versatile talents in my varied media usage, however most of my work is either completed in oil or watercolor. In oil, I use large brush strokes, vascilating between additive and subtractive methods, and I try to simplify the image as much as possible to keep the movement and energy I’ve seen in a specific place. In watercolor, I lay down large washes of color, letting the science of pigment and water create it’s magic whenever I can, whilst keeping my intentions with the piece moving in the right direction. Painting on Aquabord with watercolors, I draw, scratch and create texture with water soluble drawing mediums like ink blocks and soft pastels. These methods allow me to remain experimental and playful while creating each piece, which lends a lovely, “good energy” to my pieces. As additional undercurrents to my work, I’m an outdoor enthusiast, and a lover of regenerative living. I reside in Kyle, Texas, and am active in my local art community with shows, teaching, live painting, mural work, markets, and I’m expanding into the world of leading local & remote workshops and art retreats. I also create quality prints on a variety of surfaces to bring beauty to ALL spaces, and again, to remind us all that there is peace and goodness in the world.