KWG Blog

The image on our cover this month is by prolific artist Kathy Womack. It is titled Women and Wine: Sixteenth Edition and is part of a series of more than 40 paintings. Kathy began her artistic career as a fashion illustrator, working at the Austin American-Statesman in the mid-nineties. She explains her move to canvas from print: “After working in advertising for a decade as a fashion illustrator, I craved freedom from the nine-to-five and looked to a different outlet. I picked up my brushes and never looked back.”

After a few years of art festivals, gallery shows and private showings, Kathy’s Women and Wine series had such a following, she opened her own galleries in Austin and Houston, which had a successful eight-year run. What started with subjects from Kathy’s own imagination has evolved into commissions for clients, depicting themselves and their friends. Although they are her most popular paintings and prints, her work goes far beyond Women and Wine.

Kathy has always considered herself an illustrator, whether working on paper or canvas, and her work reflects that. With series names like “Couture” and “Damas,” fashion and the female form dominate her paintings. The Women and Wine series often depicts women who are laughing and happy. Kathy said, “As an artist, I am drawn to the dramatic, or emotionally provocative imagery, so I think I was trying to capture the emotion of the moment. We cherish our friendships, so the nature of that is pretty relatable to most women and obviously had broad appeal.”

While she continues to paint her beloved Women and Wine, lately Kathy has felt drawn in a different direction. She’s returned a bit to her roots, mingling them with a twenty-first century sensibility. She calls the recent work found on her Instagram and Studio Shop websites “sketchbook musings.” They have a playful sense of humor. As stated on the Instagram page, they’re full of “pop culture, snark, and random scribblings.” The images say Old Hollywood, but the words that often accompany them are very 2021.

Pink Magazine Article Link

http://voyagehouston.com/interview/meet-kathy-womack-kathy-womack-gallery-near-downtown/

Excerpt:

Today we’d like to introduce you to Kathy Womack.

Kathy, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
After working at the Austin American Statesman as a fashion illustrator in the mid-nineties, I picked up my brushes and took a chance at making a living as a painter. After a few years, through gallery openings, art festivals and private showings I’d created a somewhat of a cult following with my Women and Wine Series. It allowed me to open a gallery in Austin and Houston for a good 8 year run. Though the galleries are no longer, Women and Wine 20 years later is still ongoing and overshadows most of my other work.

Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
The real estate crash in the last decade certainly effected my sales. Art is a luxury item and I felt the hit as most of the local artists I know experienced.

The main difference was and still is that the publishing (print/limited editions) side of my business has become a larger source of income in addition to my original paintings.

Kathy Womack Gallery – what should we know? What do you guys do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
The Women and Wine series started out as each painting being of my own creation and now the majority of the pieces are commissioned by women with themselves and their friends portrayed in the paintings in their likeness.

What moment in your career do you look back most fondly on?
To have made a name for myself as an artist and to have made a living at something I love to do isn’t easy and I feel blessed to have created something that people connect to and for it to have such longevity.