Kathryn Lehotsky was born and raised in West Virginia and recently returned to her home state. At nine years old, Kathryn's mother hired an acclaimed artist who'd immigrated to WV from Hungary after the Communist takeover there. She taught Kathryn how to paint portraits in oils and do detailed freehand drawings. Winning a statewide art competition her junior year in high school, Kathryn was invited to WVU to study art taught by professors who were master painters. She then went to Ohio University School of Art and Design, majoring in painting. After working at Kent State University as an administrator, Kathryn began her own business as a professional artist. She traveled the country showing and selling her work in some of the finest art shows for over twenty years.

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After spending most of her career using oil paints, Kathryn taught herself how to paint finely detailed birds, mammals, and fish using a new to her medium: watercolors. Utilizing brushes with tiny bristles and thousands of strokes, she learned to portray animals in a photorealistic manner. At the time, she lived in a log cabin on a trout river where she could study wildlife up close. Soon, birds she'd never seen before and animals like the bobcat, bear, coyote, fox, beaver, raccoon, deer, along with trout became subjects in her paintings. Kathryn also enjoys doing portraits of dogs and cats and has done many over the years.

 

Kathryn has received numerous awards throughout her art career. She now has her paintings for sale in many fine galleries in West Virginia, Ohio, and Virginia. She is honored to have been invited to show her watercolors of songbirds and raptors in a one-woman show at the prestigious Glen Helen Atrium Gallery in Ohio.  In addition, her work is on display at the National Folk Art Museum in N.Y.C. and at the Hermitage Museum in Nashville, TN. As a proud West Virginian, she is honored to have her paintings in the Dickirson Gallery at Tamarack in Beckley, West Virginia, the state's premier gallery for West Virginia artists. Today, she lives with her husband and two dogs near beautiful and historic Lewisburg, West Virginia.  Kathryn is grateful that she is still painting subjects close to her heart: all manner of creatures.

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