Kathy Beekman

Kathy Beekman (born 1971) is an American contemporary pastel painter.
Early years
Kathy Beekman was born in Evanston, Illinois, in April 1971. She is the first of four children of Edward Morris and Mary Lou (Thieme) Morris. She spent the first four years of her life in Illinois before moving with her family to Fort Wayne, Indiana. There her childhood days were filled by playing outdoors in the woods, playing games of hide and seek on her thickly foliaged property, and spending an endless amount of time drawing, coloring and daydreaming. Both her father and mother were educators in schools as were four of her aunts and an uncle. There she met her future husband Chris Beekman, an archaeologist, and the two were married in 1999.
In 2000, Beekman lived in Jalisco, Mexico, and worked alongside her husband on his archaeological project. She excavated in the field and rendered project artifact illustrations. It was while on this particular project that she began to build her first significant body of artwork since graduating from college
Career
Painting
During the latter part of 2000 and beginning of 2001, Beekman and her husband lived in Ypsilanti, Michigan. It was here that she began showing her work in galleries. The first body of work consisted of pastel paintings which portrayed Southwestern and Mexican adobe architecture.
Late in 2001 another move took the Beekmans to Denver, Colorado. There Beekman began showing her artwork in local and then regional galleries. Her subject matter changed to portray that of rural countrysides. About this same time, the director of the Foothills Art Center in Golden, Colorado, contacted her and asked if she would consider teaching adults the art of pastel painting. Beekman began teaching painting workshops and private lessons on a regular basis. and in the same year began creating webinars, which were made available on the Internet, in which she focuses directly on art marketing-related topics.
Style and technique
Beekman has a painting style she can call her own. She never took a pastel painting workshop or lesson and so never exposed herself to the opportunity of “copying” another artist's painting style. Her contemporary style has been compared to that of Edward Hopper. Highly stylized barnscapes have proven to be a favorite among art collectors. These colorful barnscapes have been described as: nostalgic, moody, atmospheric, spacious, haunting, beautiful, dreamy and familiar.
Beekman does not use soft pastel in a traditional manner; rather than using the soft pastel stick to draw, she paints with it. At least fifty percent of each painting is finger-painted. Her favorite tool is her right pinky finger. Early in her career she used a variety of colored printmaking paper on which to paint. After just a few years, she turned to a black printmaking paper which she has since used exclusively as her “canvas”.

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