Miss Peltier was raised in a one-room cabin with seven brothers and sisters on a lakeshore in Northern Wisconsin. With no modern conveniences and little outside contact, nature and environment intricate part of her self. This "hands on" observation has led to her unique "Wildlife and Individual Personalities". created in transparent watercolor.

Self-taught, the artist attends several symposiums a year, along with several major field expositions.

Roxanne is exclusive to transparent watercolor after trying and rejecting other media early in her career. This decision was reached because, "This [media] is a beautiful as it is difficult. There is nothing that matches the natural softness and life of transparent watercolor, just as there is nothing that truly matches the beauty of wildlife we as artists try to recreate -- but transparent watercolor comes close."

Currently living in St Paul, Minnesota, this award winning artist is planning to relocate in the wilds of Northern minnesota.

The term "transparent watercolor" is often loosely used to describe any semi-transparent pigment soluable in water. This, however, is a misnomer. There are few pure transparent pigments that allow the previous color to show through and these are dictated by the organic and inorganic matter which is then ground, suspended in gum arabic and sold in either tubes or 'cakes'.

The artist Roxanne M Peltier has chosen three pigments she believes has a clear illuminous bloom when applied to paper. They are: Prussian blue, Alizarin Crimson, and Winsor Yellow. Miss Peltier creates the full spectrum of color seen in her work by building layers of washes with these three pigments on paper. This is known as glazing. No color is pre-mixed before it is applied to paper.

Each Previous wash must be completely dry before applying the next glaze in order to ensure crisp, clear color and depth within the painting. White areas of the painting are "Reserved" by creating negative spaces feathers, rock, grasses, Etc., and not painting highlighted areas. This is similar to painting a negative.

While this is a very time-consuming technique, it creates a natural "living" work of art in which the viewer may enter, visually walking through every glaze, easily moving amongst the colors and moods without the interruption caused by hard opaque pigments.

© Roxanne Peltier
This page was last updated on 5/4/96 5:07:05 PM