About the Artist
My name is Paula Walden. I am a watercolor artist. I created Still Moments Studio in 2003 when my only time in art were the “still moments” during my kids’ nap time. Nap times are long gone but I continue to create in the still moments of my life, sometimes long into the night, when there are no family responsibilities and to-do lists just the painting or drawing that I am currently working on.
I was blessed by excellent high school art teachers and later professors who poured their hearts into who I am as an artist.
Who I am today is because of their influence in my life!
I had an excellent sculpting teacher in high school who taught me how to sculpt heads and so for a while I drew faces in the same manner a sculptor models clay — exaggerated lumps and balls of clay. My high school drawing and painting teacher left her art-design company job to pour her heart and art passion into high school students. It’s because of her influence I chose to pursue art education and studio art at University.
I am so very grateful to both of them!
At University, my professors pushed us to be our best.
Our ceramics professor was Kirk Freeman. It was because of the “at home” feeling when entering his studio I chose to attend Bethel University. https://www.bethel.edu/academics/faculty/freeman-kirk
My sculpting professor, Stewart Luckman, had a booming voice and wild white hair very much in the manner of Captain Ahab. He also had a passion to teach his craft and invest in our lives that was beyond the pale. He loaned me his dental tools to carve cardboard into rock — immortalizing cardboard. It was the ironic, the impressionistic hand of the artist, the meaning and passion of art that he loved so much. One of the most beautiful and awesome sights in art is a bronze pour and I was blessed to have two pours in his classes. http://stewartluckman.com/
My art history professor, Wayne Roosa, was brilliant. I remember during one memorable class he thought there was 15 more minutes of class and he continued lecturing and pouring his knowledge into us. He was such a beloved professor we all sat there absorbing his knowledge, brilliance and passion for art and art history. Not a single one of us ever told him or corrected him. He was brilliant! https://www.firstthings.com/web-exclusives/2012/02/in-the-slipstream-with-wayne-roosa
My drawing professor, George Robinson, drilled us again and again in drawing over and over till we could draw on sight. One of my favorite drawings is a self portrait of myself looking into a polished curved metal vessel. It is beautiful, fun and full of the warmth and humor of life. https://www.brainerddispatch.com/lifestyle/arts-and-entertainment/artist-creates-intaglio-collage-to-compose-personal-reflections-exhibit-on-display-at-ripple-river-gallery
My painting professor, Dale Johnson, taught us to see colors within colors. Again and again, he had us paint from real life, open air, and on site. He taught a class that traveled to the Dominican Republic to paint for 3 weeks and another class along the western coast of Italy on up to Nice to paint, study art, and bicycle for 3 weeks. He encouraged us to choose our own medium and explore its qualities on our own. https://www.bethel.edu/news/articles/2012/july/johnson-42
It was in my senior year that I chose painting as my concentration and watercolor over gouache, acrylic, or oil because of watercolor’s transparent depth, beauty and challenge.
To all of these teachers, who’ve touched my life, I am forever grateful!
