Carolyn Caton Art

My name is Carolyn Caton, a self-taught artist, and these are my pictures.  I began painting about 3 to 4 years ago, one night when my kids left their art supplies out.  That night, instead of just putting them away, I decided for some reason to "give it a go".  The next thing I knew, it was 4:00am!  I was hooked!  I decided that I needed my own art supplies, and just kept going from there.

Sometimes when I sit down to paint, I have a clear idea of exactly what it's going to be, and other times I just sit down and see what comes out - like painting a daydream.  Most all of them are done in the middle of the night, because I pretty much need to be alone to get in the flow of it.  It often almost feels like I live in the painting that I'm working on, and its quite easy to loose track of time - like when you are reading a good book and you're lost in the story - so it's an escape of sorts I suppose.

At any rate, I very much enjoy making them, and am always well pleased when another enjoys them as well.  The one thing about painting regularly, is that you very quickly figure out that you need to sell some of them if you are going to keep painting - The alternative being covering the walls of yours and everyone you know's houses with them,  and I guess that my ego just won't allow it.  Somehow I just can't see me having someone over, and explaining that this one's by me and this one's by me, and that one's by me, and it's all by me. Me, me, me.   So for myself, I've found it best to pass them along to others who like and enjoy them, and I am beyond grateful that I've been able to find others who do seem to like them.   I've always been simply delighted when someone buys one of my pictures, and always hope that they will get even half of the enjoyment out of it that I did in making it.

I've struggled with how exactly to classify my artwork - Certainly, I would fit into the "Naive" category, given the fact that I haven't studied art since the 7th grade and did so only grudgingly then.  I am not someone who can paint on demand - sit me down and tell me to paint a pear, and your just as likely to get a peaceful yet imaginary landscape plucked from my own imagination or gnomes hiding in the trees.  I'd make a horrible art student, because to me much of the fun of it is all in the flow of thoughts, ideas, whims & fancies from within to the canvas/paper/etc. No way could I ever do that in a class environment, certainly not, though I've always been in awe of those who can operate under those circumstances. 

So maybe I also am "Primitive"?  An "Outsider"?   Yes, probably both of those too.  At the end of the day, I guess that the best thing to do would be to leave it up to those in the know to decide and just keep painting my pictures. 

If I haven't lost you yet, then I sincerely thank you for reading this far and I do hope that you will enjoy the pictures!

Carolyn