Meet Beverly Carlson Bradshaw

Today we’d like to introduce you to Beverly Carlson Bradshaw.

Hi Beverly, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start, maybe you can share some of your backstories with our readers. 
I started drawing at a young age creating drawings from cartoon books and from animals on the family farm in Montana. I started working with oils and acrylic in high school. In my early 20s, I took life drawing classes at Eastern Montana College at night after work.

My life and career took me to Seattle, WA, where I continued to take art classes in the evening after work. I started working with watercolor and pastels, and I found that the drawing and painting of pastels appealed to me and it became my chosen medium. I started my own interior design firm in my early 40s, and I was so busy that I didn’t have time to do any artwork until I moved to Arizona.

Since moving here in 2018, I started painting full-time in 2019 and with the pandemic, I painted every day. I have taken numerous workshops over the past four years with some wonderful teachers, such as Tony Allain, and Nancie King Mertz, to just name a few. I started teaching pastel myself last year at The Holland Fine Art Center and The Sonoran Artists League in Cave Creek, AZ.

I now have my art in The Finer Arts Gallery in Cave Creek. I have won numerous awards with Arizona Pastel Artists Assoc. and Camelback Gallery. I am a Signature Member of the Arizona Pastel Artists Association., a member and Arizona Ambassador for the West Coast Pastel Society, a member of the Red Rock Pastel Society, Artists in Arizona, Plein Air Artists of Arizona, and The Sonoran Arts League.

I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
I think if you are really being true to yourself there are always both smooth days and days you struggle. I think I struggled with starting so late in my life at 60, and I feel I could be so much further if I had done more. You have to just tell yourself you are where you are now and just keep doing it. Some paintings just start and go so easy all the way through and others you struggle to get done.

I have immersed myself in the art scene here and have met a lot of wonderful like-minded people through different organizations. That has been a big plus and I would suggest any artists do the same. It is somewhat lonely working with art on your own. I see myself getting better and better which I keep trying to push myself. You should never stop learning, or I think your art becomes stagnant or you become bored.

Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
Most of the subject matter that I paint is landscapes and animals. I have been doing more landscapes, in that you can take your own photos, which you have to do in order to enter a show. Animals are a little harder if you don’t have the correct camera. So, some of my paintings come from free reference photos. I also like to do old trucks, figurative and floral from time to time. I get bored doing the same thing, so I like to mix up my subjects.

I am not sure what sets me apart from others I think my art is between realism and impressionism. I try to capture the feeling of the place or animal I paint. I especially love lighting in a painting. I always think a person connects to your art for some reason or another it reminds them of something in their past or just the beauty they see that captures them.

Who else deserves credit in your story?
In Seattle, I worked with a pastel artist, Clark Elster, once a week for the first year, getting my business going. I have quite a few people who have helped along the way, the artists I took workshops from, and of course.

My siblings have always cheered me on with my art. Also, so many friends who help out if you have a question or if you are stuck on a particular place in your painting. Always good to have a second artist’s eye to take a look at it.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.BeverlyBradshawArt.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/beverlybradshawart/?hl=en