Shore Grass
19 x 25 in., soft pastel on LaCarte paper
Private collection
When asked her favorite thing to paint, Tara Will always say, ‘light’. She loves to see the way it bounces off of any subject, the shadows it leaves behind, and the color that it can achieve while wiping away local colors of an object.
“I like working quickly, trying to capture the essence of the subject, and try omit any information that isn’t fully useful to the subject’s story.”
While Tara’s work walks the line between realism and abstraction, it is a style that many patrons enjoy for its bold color and immediate marks.
After having twins in the fall of 2013, Tara decided she needed a new artistic outlet. The local community college was offering a class on pastels, a medium she had never worked in, and one that interested her.
“The class was wonderful, opening my eyes to the varieties of paper available, pastel brands to choose from, and ways to apply the medium. I started reading books about pastels, and especially loved Wolf Kahn’s book on pastel.”
Tara then heard about a plein air quickdraw at a local agricultural center and went, having no idea it would ignite in her a passion for plein air. She continued to go to local quickdraws, hoping one day to be on the “juried side” of the show.
Soon she entered local shows as a juried artist, and continued painting more and more. Eventually, she had a body of work to pull from to start applying to more nationally ranked plein air events and was chosen as a juried artist. She has traveled from Massachusetts to California, to paint. This season she will make the trek to Nova Scotia for the Parrsboro Plein Air event, return to Cape Ann Plein Air to paint their beautiful landscape. Other juried shows will give her the opportunity to paint in Sonoma, CA and San Angelo, TX. Tara feels blessed to live a life that shows her children that they can follow their dreams, and she hopes they do.
You can follow Tara on Instagram. Also see more of her work on her website, as well as learn of workshops, events, and sales. Contact Tara at 410.353.0953 or [email protected].
