Rita Koch

My love of color and texture began as a child, when I discovered oils and pastels at Humes School of Art in Rutherford, NJ. Watercolors were my form of expression in high school and college. And then, a hiatus until I happily traded my business career for paint, brushes and study at the Center for Contemporary Art, Hunterdon Museum of Art and Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Art. To my delight, my passion for creating art rekindled with ease. 

 

I’m drawn to paint images that express the natural world, stimulate the senses and—in our fast-paced world—reveal moments that invite us to pause and consider how extraordinary the ordinary can be. Inspiration comes from faraway travels, my sunny kitchen or Sunday rides with my husband through Hunterdon County, NJ, in our 1960 Nash Metropolitan or 1959 Morris Minor Traveler (restoring classic cars is my husband’s hobby and another of my passions).

 

I work primarily in studio from digital photograph, so am often found with camera in hand, ready to capture the cool gray of a winter day, sun-warmed adobe against azure skies, soft red cardinal feathers, prickly yellow-green flower stems or the butter-colored stones of a Tuscan village. I want my paintings to convey all the beauty, all the humor and all the mystery of the moment.