Katerina Ring with one of her plein air paintings


 
Shadows Where There Were Bushbacks, by Katerina Ring


 
Katerina Ring experiencing extreme driving conditions after a flood in Zambia

“As a child, I lived in Belgium and the U.S.A. because my father was a Naval officer,” explains Ring. “I studied design at the University of California at Davis and then moved to Germany. Since 1996, I have lived and worked in Italy, I have had dozens of individual shows in Tuscany -- mostly Cortona and Lucca -- and since 2004 I have been living and working in Zambia for six-10 months of the year.

 

“The photograph of me and the elephants was taken while I was painting near Lower Zambezi National Park on the Chongwe River, Zambia [in Central Africa]. I started painting in parks, villages, and markets in Zambia in 2006 and have gathered some photos, anecdotes, and suggestions about painting in a developing country. The challenges -- animals, onlookers, extreme weather: floods, fires, heat, sudden storms -- of painting outside in Zambia make painting in the U.S.A. and Italy seem easy! In Zambia, everything seems to be extreme.

“I am signed up to be in Monterey at the Plein Air Convention next year. It’s going to be quite a voyage to get there, but I cannot wait!” For more information, visit www.katring.com