G inger W hellock, WAOW- MASTER , PSC, PAAC. PAA
BIOGRAPHY
More than 45 years ago, Ginger moved from the Chicago suburbs to western Montana where she lived and worked on a remote cattle ranch. She immediately fell in love with the western culture of self-reliance and the expansive beauty of the landscape. Since 1981 she has lived in Colorado.
Ginger’s art career began when, at 9 years old, she received her first set of oil paints. Later, as a young mother, she taught oil painting on weekends. She pursued watercolor, pen and ink and graphite while on the ranch and supplied a local gallery with her work. After moving to Colorado, she worked in pastel briefly and then returned to oil paint as her medium of choice. She has had representation in many galleries from Santa Fe and Taos to Bozeman and Denver.
Though Ginger is mostly self-taught in art, she is a natural teacher and pursues this by offering a few classes every year. Ginger presents classical oil painting methods to her students insuring that they are well versed and accomplished in drawing, composition, color theory, values and perspective. She also hosts a group of aspiring artists twice a month as they develop along their individual artistic directions. Sharing her knowledge, watching others grow into artists and painting for other’s enjoyment give her extreme pleasure.
In her words: “We see because of light. The light, the dark and the mid-tones reveal a collection of shapes that form a composition. If you add fine drawing skills the result brings detail and reality to those shapes. Applying impressionistic color and brush strokes keeps the effort from being static and photographic. Adding personal emotion through color temperature and value and by manipulating the composition the process is completed. These simple factors are my objectives in painting; a style I refer to as “casual realism.”
Ginger has earned Master Signature Membership of Women Artists of the West, Signature Membership of Plein Air Artists Colorado, Pastel Society of Colorado and PaintAmerica Society. Southwest Art Magazine’s 2016 “Ones to Watch” and 2015 “Artists of Note” featured Ginger and her work.
She has won many awards over the past 20 years and has been juried into or invited to participate in many national shows such as: Oil Painters of America National, Western Region and Salon Shows, Western Masters Heart of the West, American Impressionist Society, Plein Air Artists Colorado, Women Artists of the West, Colorado Governor’s Show, American Women Artists, National Oil and Acrylic Painters Society, Art for the Sangres, Mt Oyster Club Show, Salon International, Representing the West, South Eastern Wildlife Exposition, PaintAmerica, Art for the Parks, Douglas Land Conservancy Plein Air Event and Continental Divide Land Trust Plein Air Festival. Her latest awards have been Awards of Merit from the 2018 Colorado Governor’s Show and the PAAC 2019 Annual Show.
Ginger is currently represented by Arts at Denver Online Gallery and Mary Williams Fine Arts of Boulder. You will also find her work in many important shows across the US and on her website.