Exploring Combinations of Color

By Robert Burris

Katherine Ilse Hoyer’s interest in art started at a very young age. Thumbing through her parents’ collection of books scanning for any images she could find, watching her big sister create her own drawings and being amazed at how her observations of the world could be recorded on paper, Hoyer was motivated to explore and study and record the world around her. Once in high school, she would spend a lot of time up in her bedroom with her 64-box of Crayola crayons, making one color scheme after another. Eventually, she got another brand of crayons that provided her with even more color choices. “I would make a thick line of color on my pad of paper and then place a few more lines of  different colors right next to it to see how those colors would relate to one another,” said Hoyer.

At first, she would create geometric drawings with a straight edge. All the shapes she created would eventually be striped with different color schemes. Eventually, she broke away from geometric shapes and found flowers to be a more challenging subject matter. Following the natural shape of a flower petal with colorful lines was a good study for her on how to get the lines to go in the right directions, so it appears they are on the surface of the petals. Slowly, she combined the use of color pencil and markers to gain a wider assortment of colors to choose from.

 “I found studying colors and how they relate to one another in a group very relaxing,” said Hoyer. “When I would look at color there would not be words in my head deciding if the pigments looked good together. Either the combination of the different hues worked together for what I had in mind, or they didn’t and then I would explore other combinations.”

In her early 20s’ Hoyer’s switched to oil painting. “Oil painting allowed me to create exactly what color I had in my head for a particular area of my painting,” she said. At that time, she worked at United Parcel Service, and as a freelance graphic artist, pursued her Bachelor degree in fine Arts from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, graduating with a BFA in 1995.

Most of her paintings are 4’by 4’. She enjoys the freedom that a large canvas provides – so much room to create. Long, flowing lines that blend from one color to another, accenting or blending in with the lines next to it.

Vincent Van Gogh and Georgia O’Keeffe were great influences in Hoyer’s life. “Van Gogh’s heavy painting style and the colors he chose to put side-by-side fascinated me,” she said.

Hoyer works with abstract placement of color and shapes to produce the surfaces of the objects she paints. Each surface is composed of a series of interrelated color segment, which together blend to make a visually appealing scene. The colors she chooses are bright and vivid and the objects she paints are striking and alive and flowing. Her themes vary from wild predators, such as lions, tigers and wolves to subjects like the moon, water and fire. Hoyer moved from Illinois to Sedona to concentrate on her art. “The art community her is very supportive and active,” she said. The pace allows her to continue exploring her art.

Her work has been on display and sold in Saugatuck, Michigan and Horizon Gallery in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Hoyer’s work also can be seen at The Sedona Trading Post in the Village of Oak Creek, or at the Red Rock Fine Art and Wine Festival at the Sedona Cultural Park, May 24-26. For additional information on Hoyer, call (928) 284-2555