By Bonnie Gangelhoff
For California painter Debra Huse, 2003 was one busy year. An artistic multitasker, Huse holds down three jobs: managing her gallery on Balboa Island, setting up workshops and shows by well-known painters, and traveling across the West to plein-air festivals to paint and show her own works. “I have trouble keeping up with myself,” she jokes. However, the hectic schedule didn’t keep her from picking up awards in various competitions—she won the top award at a recent Southern California Plein Air Painters Association show and three awards at the annual Hoosier Salon, held at the Indiana State Museum in Indianapolis, IN, for outstanding impressionistic work. She also was pleased that one of her favorite paintings, RESERVADO, was chosen for the California Art Club’s Gold Medal show.
Huse studied with C.W. Mundy early in her career, and his loose style of painting still inspires her to this day. The colors and scenes she loved at first sight remain her favorite subject matter—beaches and boats. Her studio is the great outdoors, she says, explaining that the seasonal changes on Balboa Island offer endless painting possibilities year-round. “Even if there’s fog rolling into the bay, I see something exciting to paint,” Huse says. “And I always hope viewers will be just as intrigued with such scenes as I am.” She is represented by Debra Huse Gallery, Balboa Island, CA.
Featured in “Artists to Watch” February 2004