Nancy Dunlop Cawdrey
Artist Biography

"Pansy Melody", dye on silk 20" x 30" $5500		"Good Medicine", dye on silk 12" x 16" $2400
"Bridging the Great Divide", dye on silk 30" x 20" $4600		"Cresting the Great Divide", dye on silk 30" x 20" $4600
"I Wonder as I Wander", dye on silk 16.5" x 16" $2600		"Roger Ribbit", dye on silk 10" x 8" $1300
"Powder River Lodge", dye on silk 11" x 14" $2100		"The Chase", dye on silk 11.5" x 8.5" $2200
SOLD WORKS
"Milk River Lodge", dye on silk 14" x 11" SOLD

"Whatever medium I am working in, I like to mix color on the surface of the painting - giving the work more immediacy and spontaneity - what I call spirited painting. On silk I can really float brilliant color with spirit and gusto."
- Art Life, Fall/Winter 2001-2002

Nancy Dunlop Cawdrey is the daugther of a retired career officer, fortunate enough to be exposed to exotic cultures throughout her childhood. In whatever country her father was stationed, Nancy immersed herself in the culture, and her affection for the arts later led her to study two years in Paris and another five years in Britain.

Nancy loves color, texture and pattern. She began her painting career 35 years ago and worked predominately in watercolor. Through her pursuit for texture and passion for color, Nancy discovered the spontaneity and brilliance she could create through painting on silk, a Chinese technique that has been practiced for thousands of years. And, although silk painting is now her medium of choice, she continues to explore a variety of subjects in watercolor, pastel, oil and experimental media. Often, we see a mixture of media in her silk compositions. Through this overlaying of various media she creates buoyant color and texture with her combination of transparent pigment and the shimmer of silk.

A colorist with a strong sense of design, Nancy's work always evokes a response whether she is creating one of her signature western figure pieces, a breathtaking landscape, a quiet corner of Venice, or a vibrant floral.

Nancy moved to Montana 22 years ago and settled near Bigfork on Fox Creek Slough near Flathead Lake where Montana's expansiveness serves as the primary inspiration for her work. She also enjoys traveling to the Southwest and abroad to paint on-site plein air studies.

Represented in galleries in Jackson, Cody, Carmel, Bigfork and Oklahoma City, her work is now included in invitational art shows across the West, like the annual C.M. Russell Show and Auction, The Buffalo Bill Art Show and Sale, National Cowgirl Museum "Heart of the West" Invitational and the Cowgirl Up! Show at The Desert Caballeros Museum. Nancy's work was also shown in the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum's Small Works, Great Wonders show as well as at The Gilcrease Museum's American Art in Miniature Show in 2010.

She is a signature member of the Montana Watercolor Society. Her work is exhibited in many private and corporate collections across the country and in Europe.
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