Photograph of Artist DIANE KASTENSMITH BRADBURY
DIANE KASTENSMITH BRADBURY
Braintree, Massachusetts02184 - United States



Original Artworks (14)

Diane Kastensmith Bradbury; Seasons 15, 2011, Original Watercolor, 12 x 14 inches. Artwork description: 241  Negative trees creating a rainbow pattern ...
Diane Kastensmith Bradbury
Original Watercolor, 2011
12 x 14 inches (30.5 x 35.6 cm)
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Diane Kastensmith Bradbury; Dancing Trees, 2008, Original Mixed Media, 8 x 7 inches. Artwork description: 241  Mixed media on Paper ...
Diane Kastensmith Bradbury
Original Mixed Media, 2008
8 x 7 inches (20.3 x 17.8 cm)
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Diane Kastensmith Bradbury; Red Tree, 2008, Original Watercolor, 8 x 7 inches. Artwork description: 241  Transparent watercolor on paper ...
Diane Kastensmith Bradbury
Original Watercolor, 2008
8 x 7 inches (20.3 x 17.8 cm)
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Diane Kastensmith Bradbury; Tree 3, 2008, Original Watercolor, 12 x 9 inches. Artwork description: 241  This is an original transparent watercolor. The subject is a tree painted in a soft, luminous background. Please contact me by email with questions. ...
Diane Kastensmith Bradbury
Original Watercolor, 2008
12 x 9 inches (30.5 x 22.9 cm)
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Diane Kastensmith Bradbury; Trees 178, 2006, Original Painting Acrylic, 14 x 18 inches. Artwork description: 241  This is an original acrylic painted on canvas.  The subject is abstracted negative and positive trees with an arbitrary color division added as an abstraction.  Please contact me by email with questions. ...
Diane Kastensmith Bradbury
Original Acrylic Painting, 2006
14 x 18 inches (35.6 x 45.7 cm)
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Diane Kastensmith Bradbury; Equinox Pond, 2007, Original Watercolor, 15 x 11 inches. Artwork description: 241  This is an original transparent watercolor painted on site at Equinox Pond in Vermont.  The subject is abstracted negative trees with the pond in the foreground.  Please contact me by email with questions. ...
Diane Kastensmith Bradbury
Original Watercolor, 2007
15 x 11 inches (38.1 x 27.9 cm)
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Diane Kastensmith Bradbury; Blue Trees 11, 1973, Original Painting Acrylic, 20 x 30 inches. Artwork description: 241  This is an original acrylic, painted on a board I treated with sand and gesso.  The subject is abstracted negative trees.  Please contact me by email with questions ...
Diane Kastensmith Bradbury
Original Acrylic Painting, 1973
20 x 30 inches (50.8 x 76.2 cm)
Not For Sale
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Diane Kastensmith Bradbury; Spring Trees 28, 2000, Original Watercolor, 24 x 19 inches. Artwork description: 241  This is an original transparent watercolor.  The subject is stylized trees in front of a fluid background.  Please contact me by email with questions.  ...
Diane Kastensmith Bradbury
Original Watercolor, 2000
24 x 19 inches (61.0 x 48.3 cm)
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Diane Kastensmith Bradbury; Spring Trees 27, 2000, Original Mixed Media, 24 x 19 inches. Artwork description: 241  This is an original transparent watercolor background with ink drawing added when dry.  The subject is black trees in front of a spring sunset, giving the painting a stained glass effect.  Please contact me by email with questions. ...
Diane Kastensmith Bradbury
Original Mixed Media, 2000
24 x 19 inches (61.0 x 48.3 cm)
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Diane Kastensmith Bradbury; Fog On Glastonbury Hill, 2007, Original Watercolor, 30 x 22 inches. Artwork description: 241  This is an original watercolor and guache painted in layers to achieve depth of color and structure.  The subject is abstracted negative trees through the fog at the top of Glastonbury Hill in southern Vermont.  Please contact me by email with questions.   ...
Diane Kastensmith Bradbury
Original Watercolor, 2007
30 x 22 inches (76.2 x 55.9 cm)
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Diane Kastensmith Bradbury; Enchanted Forest, 2007, Original Painting Acrylic, 8 x 10 inches. Artwork description: 241  This is an original acrylic with detail overlaid in gold ink.  The subject is abstracted negative trees.  Please contact me by email with questions. ...
Diane Kastensmith Bradbury
Original Acrylic Painting, 2007
8 x 10 inches (20.3 x 25.4 cm)
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Diane Kastensmith Bradbury; Seasons 12, 2000, Original Watercolor, 24 x 19 inches. Artwork description: 241  This is an original transparent watercolor painted in layers to achieve depth of color and structure.  The subject is abstracted negative trees with an arbitrary color division to represent the seasons.  Please contact me by email with questions. ...
Diane Kastensmith Bradbury
Original Watercolor, 2000
24 x 19 inches (61.0 x 48.3 cm)
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Diane Kastensmith Bradbury; Seasons 1, 1973, Original Watercolor, 24 x 18 inches. Artwork description: 241  This is an original transparent watercolor.  The subject is abstracted negative and positive trees with an arbitrary color division to represent the seasons.  Please contact me by email with questions. ...
Diane Kastensmith Bradbury
Original Watercolor, 1973
24 x 18 inches (61.0 x 45.7 cm)
Not For Sale
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Diane Kastensmith Bradbury; Spring Trees 1, 1997, Original Watercolor, 24 x 19 inches. Artwork description: 241  This is an original transparent watercolor.  The subject is abstracted negative and positive.  Please contact me by email with questions. ...
Diane Kastensmith Bradbury
Original Watercolor, 1997
24 x 19 inches (61.0 x 48.3 cm)
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Artist Statement

I love the spontaneity and freshness of watercolor - especially the “accidental” movement of color that results from painting wet into wet. I usually start with a wet into wet technique, and work through all the stages of the paper, until I am painting wet into dry. I often soak the painting in the bathtub overnight to soften the edges and lighten the colors, going back in the next day to sharpen details and brighten or darken colors where needed. I repeat this process until I can see that the painting is finished. I believe the record for the number of times this was done was a painting I sold in 1985, called “Blue Tree”. It had been soaked twenty–two times before I was satisfied with the result. Of course, high quality paint and paper are essential to this process. “Seasons <12” is an example of soaking and redefining. If I am not sure that a painting is finished, I will put it up on the wall at the end of my bed, upside down. It will be the last thing I see before I fall asleep, and the first thing I see in the morning; that usually allows me to make a determination. If I want to preserve the freshness of a particular subject, I will stretch the paper, taping it to the watercolor board, painting wet in to wet, and then wet into dry until the painting is finished. This keeps the lines crisper, and the paper and color more controlled, as in “Elsah Buggy Shop <14”. When doing a more complicated and less random work, like “Victorian House <5”, I outline areas with washes on dry paper, then wet the paper to continue the painting.

The more the color, water and paper contribute to the process, the happier I am. I often start laying in color, deciding what I am painting only after the movement of the paint speaks to me. I also love the controlled painting of a subject certain, and the spontaneity of painting on location, but I will invariably go back to the studio every few days and let the paper and paint decide the subject. As is evidenced by my portfolio, trees are my favorite subject. I also love old barns and houses, but the patterns and spaces created by the branches and the texture of the bark on the trees is the most fascinating thing in the world to me. I particularly love negative spaces opposed with positive strokes, as in “Trees <173”. I also enjoy the effect created by deconstructing buildings, creating patterns and accentuating details until the subject is abstracted, as in the previously mentioned “Victorian House <5”.

I also work in acrylics, but invariably find myself treating it as watercolor, and have to force myself to bring in thickness and three-dimensional texture. I have solved this to a certain extent by adding texture, like sand or pastiche, before I begin. This creates wonderful effects when the paint is allowed to run and dance around the textures. I have also done some mixed media, primarily to vary the mood of the painting and bring out the subject, or to flatten and minimize the subject. I love the fact that no matter how many times, or in what medium I paint a subject, something new and exciting always happens.
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