Harriet Kasson is a watercolorist who painted the Bay Area for over 40 years. A long-time resident of San Rafael, she prefers painting landscapes on location to “capture the liveliness and spirit of the place, as well as the essence of the climate and the quality of the light and shadows.”

 

Harriet paints scenes familiar to us, yet finds ways to keep the image fresh – a marker of her skill as a watercolorist. She works a wet-into-wet technique, building layer upon layer of color and adding darker tones in some areas, while allowing earlier brilliant washes to shine through in others. She also does not use mask-out techniques to keep her whites and light areas of interest.

 

Harriet paints watercolor in the plein air tradition. “There is a true challenge to keep the washes under control while painting out in conditions ranging from damp and foggy to icy and windy to a hot sunny day which can almost immediately dry the paper,” she says. “The appeal of painting on location is partly the knowledge that there is no guarantee of a predictable result.”

 

Harriet credits renowned watercolorist Ken Potter as the teacher who got her out into the open air and painting on full size paper. “Often times in his class we’d be hanging onto the side of a mountain, balancing our wobbly easels, while he tromped around us, giving us courage to fill the page.” Harriet became a regular on the hills and roadsides of the Bay Area, often joined by fellow watercolorist Marion Lafkas, painting landscapes that spoke to her.

 

Harriet Kasson’s paintings have shown in numerous shows and public spaces including Mill Valley City Hall, the Marin County Fair, the Station House Café in Point Reyes Station, the Bishop Gallery, Big Apple Deli, the Marin Society of Artists, the Marin Watercolor Society, San Francisco Women Artists, the Marin Agricultural Land Trust, the Marin Art Guild and student shows at the College of Marin and Indian Valley Colleges. Her works also hang in a number of private collections in California, and throughout the United States.