Artist Biography and Statement
Deborah Horton is an American artist that has enjoyed drawing and painting since childhood. Her school teachers helped with the foundation of drawing and composition. Her art professors at Harding University added additional instruction and encouraged her interest in learning and observing the natural world. She received a bachelor’s degree in Art and later a master’s degree in Art Therapy at The George Washington University in D.C. One of her greatest accomplishments was helping others find healing through their creative, artistic process. Frequently she stressed with clients that the marks we make with such items as charcoal, pencil, pastel, or paint are an extension of ourselves. It is those expressions of ourselves that can be insightful and healing.
Around 2014 Deborah shifted to oil painting in her home studio. She paints specifically the created, natural world around her. Worthy subjects are everywhere though. She paints solitary landscapes, usually devoid of people, and enjoys the challenges of rendering architecture, such as historical chapels, churches, houses, and barns. The beauty of what God has created and what we have put in it, is interesting to her.
Deborah focuses on how light (e.g., its warmness/coolness, intensity, direction) is reflected on various objects and how light influences the colors of those objects. Light, or absence of light, communicates a mood. Her mission is to share the beauty that she sees.
Deborah’s process begins with quick thumb nail drawings in a sketch book to decide on composition. After toning the canvas, she draws out the idea on a canvas and then begins painting in her studio using reference photos. She focuses on capturing light, movement, and mood, and how it changes during the day and through the seasons. Deborah also enjoys painting outdoors and loves the challenge of capturing the changing light and mood.
