The instinct to create art from life runs through Cathleen Richards-Green's veins.

"I remember drawing in Grade 3," she laughs. "My father is an artist. When the Beaverbrook Art Gallery opened he had a painting in there. And I guess that's really what spurred my interest in art. I've been drawing since I was quite little."

A native Miramichier, Cathleen left the area for six years and studied in the United States.

"It's good to live away for awhile. I think it broadens your scope a little," she says.

At Cerritos Community College in California and Central Piedmont Community College in North Carolina, she studied Art History, free-hand drawing, life drawing, design, printmaking and other courses.

"But not painting," Cathleen shrugs. "I didn't take painting. I took what I would consider the basics to get into art. Good drawing and design skills are most important to any work of art and that's what I concentrated on. The oil painting and water colour, I've been learning on my own and I hope I'll always be learning something new in regards to painting with colour."

Besides being a self-taught painter, Cathleen also taught herself computer skills. About a year ago she knew little beyond the basics, but now she designs and maintains The Green Gallery, a virtual art gallery filled with her work.

The Green Gallery showcases an array of styles and mediums including Cathleen's favourite piece to date called Early Morn.

"I woke up in the spring, probably in March one morning, and the light in the sky was just so beautiful, and the reflections on the snow. I thought, 'I have to paint that,'" Cathleen recalls. "The huge pine tree in the background, like a silent sentinel - it was a special sight to me every morning. A couple of years ago that tree was chopped down. I really felt heartbroken about losing it . . . so, I'm glad now that I did the painting."

Cathleen's fondness for the sky can be seen in many of her paintings especially the work called Beaubear's Island.

"Where Nelson Rural School is you can sit in your car in the parking lot and at a certain time in the summer look right across the river and watch the sunset directly across from you. And it is absolutely beautiful," she exclaims. "The clouds were pink in that sunset. They were absolutely pink and I had to capture that. The colours were just awesome I thought. I had watched the sunset there so many times that I had to record it."

But Cathleen doesn't have to leave the house to find inspiration. She sees an abundance of beauty right outside her window and captures it from the comfort of her living room.

"It was an overcast day in November. We had no snow and the sun was peeking through the cloud here and there. It lit up the grass in the field across the street and just made it look wonderfully golden," Cathleen recalls. "I loved the scene. I just opened the blinds and stood in my living room with my easel and paints and painted it."

However, most of her work begins with a sketch.

"My very favourite thing to do is to sketch from life. To sit and sketch something while looking at it, not a photograph, but the actual scene," she says.

Capturing life as it happens may be her passion, but Cathleen says portraits are the exception. Portraits are easier when done from a photograph rather than a live model. Finding a willing subject to sit still and pose can be difficult.

Recently, she was commissioned to do a portrait as a Christmas present.

"I loved the work, it turned out really well," she says. "And it pleased the woman I sold it to."

Cathleen's passion for faces shows itself in works like A Zuni Governor.

"Around 1982 I did a series of Natives," she says. "The native spirituality attracts me and I think that's why I was so attracted to these faces. It's their eyes; there's such nobility in their eyes."

Originally, there were seven or eight pictures but now she only has two and they are promised to her son, not for sale.

"But I can do more," she laughs. "I did one for a sister for a 25th anniversary a few years ago. I hope to get pictures of some of the others I've done to put up on my website. It would be nice to have them there as a record of my work."

Cathleen sells her work out of her home. Although she has shown her work at Carrefour Beausoleil, most of her sales come by way of word of mouth from friends and happy customers.

To see more of Cathleen's work visit The Green Gallery online. If you would like to commission a portrait or purchase one of the works Cathleen has on hand, please email her at greenpallet@hotmail.com.

Kellie Underhill is the editor of Bread 'n Molasses. Her writing credits include The Moncton Times-Transcript, The Brunswick Business Journal, The Atlantic Chamber Journal and The Reader magazine. Send your comments about this article to editor@breadnmolasses.com.