Conversations with Carolyn Zbavitel

Today we’d like to introduce you to Carolyn Zbavitel.

Hi Carolyn, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I started painting in my thirties.

Before that, I didn’t really think that I was artistic. In college, I thought I couldn’t take art classes because I wasn’t “gifted” at art, and I thought it was for those people who knew they could draw. Instead, I studied Italian and Russian.

I went to Russia in 1985 on the first summer abroad program that Duke university allowed. After college, I worked in sales and I started taking art classes on the weekends.

I decided after several years to quit my job and go back to get my master’s in fine art. I enrolled at Mira Costa College in Oceanside, CA. I went to the University of Georgia and did a semester abroad in Cortona, Italy. I took painting, drawing, art history, photography, and just everything art. I took a lot of courses, then decided to get my MFA at Long Beach State in CA.

Marriage and family raising paused my art career. After my son was born, I decided not to paint in oil anymore since it just wasn’t safe to have around a baby. Watercolor is easier, safer, and cleaner. When he was 4, I took watercolor workshops and painted with the Southern California Plein Air Painters.

Plein air painting is hard work. It’s hard to make a good composition, especially with watercolor. But stubborn me – I just keep plowing away. After my son was in junior high and high school, I started focusing on painting again. I moved from NC to AZ this past December and set up a studio and gallery space in Old Town Scottsdale at the Marshall Square Artist Studios.

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
There’s a learning curve to doing Plein air painting and a high learning curve for watercolor. Time is such a luxury for an artist because it takes so much time to develop skill and a style in different mediums. For me, loving all mediums, I switch back and forth!

I need time to develop my craft, and money to support my art habit. Then if you’re serious and want to establish yourself, you need to do all the other things like learning the business side and social media to be a “successful artist”.

I’m just lucky that I landed in a studio and gallery spot that has enough for the traffic of locals and snowbirds that can support my art addiction, or help subsidize it I should say.

As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
I paint! I paint in all media: Watercolor, oil, and acrylic. Sometimes, I Plein air paint, which means that I paint outside, and I specialize in street scenes and landscapes. I’m known for my quirky, colorful dog portraits, and my watercolors.

I’m proud of my stubbornness or tenacity: That I’m stubborn enough to keep going when the imposter syndrome comes out, especially when I paint something 4 times and it still isn’t right. I keep going until I get it where I want it. What sets me apart from others is that I’m somewhat fearless in terms of “what’s the worst that can happen? What holds me back?”

Maybe some people are more careful, whereas I’m more of a free spirit. I’m not as calculating or analytic; I use my intuition.

What do you like and dislike about the city?
I love that I can work with other creatives, and sell my artwork to locals, snowbirds, and tourists.

Arizona has so much to offer in terms of landscape, sunshine, weather, and proximity to so many other destinations out west. It’s an easy drive to California when you need to see the coast.

Contact Info:

• Email: cizpaints@gmail.com
• Website: www.carolynzbavitel.com
• Instagram: @carolynzbavitel
• Twitter: @ZbavitelCarolyn
• Youtube: youtube.com/c/caroylnzbavitel