Carol Jenkins
Carol Jenkins is a Western professional oil painter, recently featured as “Best in the West” and “Artist to Watch” by Southwest Art Magazine, 2007. Her work has a beauty and a magic that strikes an emotional chord with many who view her paintings.
Carol lives in an old miner’s cabin high in the Rocky Mountains in the old gold-mining town of Ward, Colorado (pop. 120). She says, “I live in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by a National Forest and I’m inspired by what I see all around me.”
Spring Snow
Born into an artistic New England family, Carol grew up surrounded by the plein air paintings of her great-grandmother who painted in the Adirondack Mountains in the late 1880s. Carol says, “As a child, I was always drawing.” Winning an art scholarship, Carol’s formal training took place at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston.
When Carol first visited Colorado in 1970’s, she was immediately touched by the Rocky Mountains, especially the old mining town of Ward. She stayed, later married, and raised her daughter. Carol loves to hike, tend her flowers, build stone walls with her husband, and paint.
Carol first became known for her lovingly executed pastels -- golden Aspen trees in the fall, red geraniums in her south-facing window, the old wicker rocker, the antique sink in the kitchen of her cabin.
After years of success in pastels, Carol turned to oil painting. She jumped into study with some of the best in the West, including Carolyn Anderson, Kang Cho, Kim English, Ron Hicks, George Strickland, Matt Smith and Skip Whitcomb.
Niwot Aspens
Carol’s focus turned to plein air painting in the mountains. She says, “I love nature and I love being able to capture the moment, the experience of nature’s design in the texture of my oils.”
Carol exhibited her work in multiple juried and invitational shows, became a Signature Member of the Rocky Mountain Plein Air Painters and received the coveted Best Body of Work Award and Award of Excellence at the 2006 and 2007 RMPAP Signature and National Art Shows.
Into the Forest
Now in the summer and fall Carol paints “on location” -- in the woods outside of Ward, up near the Continental Divide, or in and around mountain towns like Steamboat or Winter Park. She is fond of painting ramshackle buildings, such as the old train depot that once served the mines near Ward or the old cabins that line the streets of her town.
Old Hotel
In the winter, a miner’s cabin below the old Church in Ward serves as her art studio where she fires up the old wood stove and immerses herself in painting. Recently Carol has returned to painting oils of the images that long ago touched her -- her beloved geraniums, the old wicker chair, and her venerated antique sink.
Winter Geraniums
Carol Jenkins paintings are shown at the Mary Williams Fine Art Gallery in Boulder, Ernest Fuller Gallery, Denver, and Bishop Gallery in Scottsdale, AZ and Allenspark, CO.
Representative works can be viewed at caroljenkinsoils.com
