Artist, Sonya Terpening, received
her degree in art education from Oklahoma State University.
This young and vibrantly enthusiastic artist currently lives and
works from a light-flooded studio at her home in Texas.
Terpening is most widely known for
her realistic watercolors of everyday scenes ranging from interior
settings, to garden gates, porch steps full of potted flowering plants
or “portraits” of homes and churches.
While she was classically trained in oil painting she soon
discovered and mastered the extremely difficult techniques required to
create transparent watercolors. Sonya
recently returned to painting with oils and now produces works in both
mediums. She says, “By
switching between oils and watercolors I feel that my art stays much
fresher.”
The paintings Terpening produces
capture a moment in time and tell a story of that moment, however brief.
“When I venture out on a
painting trip, I’m looking for stories and each of these scenes has a
story I can tell.” Her
work has been greatly influenced by Donald Teague and Richard Schmid.
Sonya is a member of the National
Watercolor Society and the Southeastern Watercolor Society.
She participates in juried shows such as the Prix de West in
Oklahoma City, the Gilcrease Museum Rendezvous show and the Masters of
the West show in Los Angeles. Articles
on her work have frequently been featured in Southwest
Art and Art of the West
and she has been selected to do the cover art for several books.
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