Welcome to edithhunsberger.com

Edith Hunsberger is a Shutesbury, MA watercolor artist specializing in commission paintings. Please take your time, browse around, and feel free to contact Edith should you have any questions/comments. Enjoy :)

artist's statement

Four decades ago, when I was an undergraduate, a professor in a design course issued a challenge-- draw a machine. Obediently, I took the back off my alarm clock and proceeded to do a detailed perspective drawing of its innards. In the process, the gears and gizmos began to fit together, both on the paper and in my head. A few totally focused hours resulted in a detailed drawing and a much clearer picture in my mind of how things like alarm clocks work-- how the pieces mesh and interact with one another. Later, as an art teacher and a parent, I used the same exercise to encourage young people to focus, to understand through doing. Valuable lessons, these.

Then, for thirty years I applied similar analytical processes to the complexities of bureaucracy in a couple of large New York State agencies. In that stressful environment, diagrams, dialogues, debates, and databases became the main tools for understanding and conveying clarity. More policy analysis than painting, alas. Now, in semi-retirement, I can return to the (to me) more comfortable and reassuring media of digital camera and watercolors, and I am using them to explore my new home here in the Pioneer Valley of Massachusetts-- its people, places, animals, and spirit.

Sometimes my own photos-- of home or from travels-- are the inspiration for paintings, and sometimes pictures found in newspapers and magazines serve to start the process. Occasionally I paint from life. Whatever the source, the result is a closer feeling for the subject. As with that long-ago alarm clock, focus enables understanding. I love to paint- the act consumes me. Painting often makes me fall in love with my subjects as I strive to capture them, simplify them, change them. And, as with any good relationship, the interaction changes me, as well. I grow in understanding and kinship with the surrounding world. I am grateful for the greater connection.

invitation

Perhaps you, too, would like to capture some everyday beauty or a symbol of your life's joy. If you have a special subject you would like me to work on (house, scenic overlook, portrait, favorite pet, etc.), I will be glad to work to order. Either provide me a clear photograph, or we can arrange a "sitting" and I will bring my camera to do a series of shots, and you can choose the pose/view that is most meaningful to you. (Most watercolors can be completed in two days or less.) Or, please make an appointment to browse through the hundreds of paintings in my studio. I would love to discuss my work with you.

I hope you enjoy my work as much as I have enjoyed painting it.

“Take time to notice your world."