Peggi Habets

I paint inspiring people and everyday life-- individuals and neighborhoods who have stories to tell and struggles to overcome. These narrative paintings focus on the mood and emotion of my subjects by blending realism with ethereal shapes and forms. Instead of realistically depicting every detail, I often merely suggest a person’s surroundings through use of color, design, shape, and value, preserving enough ambiguity to allow the viewer to experience the painting in their own personal way.

My paintings are constantly evolving with the challenge to say more with less--minimal brushstrokes, fluid washes, and pure pigment are essential to that evolution. Painting in a series has also encouraged growth by allowing me to explore many ways to depict one subject. For instance, my current paintings and drawings of dancers explore mixed media, incorporation of abstract elements and gesture, and variation of color, value, and edges. Even in these dance paintings, I am drawn to the hard work and struggle of the dancers, as opposed to the more traditional “beautiful dancer” paintings.

My intent has never been to create a painting that looks like a photograph. Instead, my primary goal and greatest reward is creating a painting that connects with the viewer emotionally, rationally or inexplicably.

BIOGRAPHY
Peggi Habets lives and works as an artist in her hometown of Pittsburgh, Pa. Her deep love for the fluidity and spontaneity of watercolor have led her to paint and teach in the medium for over 15 years. Her figurative and cityscape paintings have been exhibited and collected internationally and she has received awards in many prestigious shows, including the National Watercolor Society and the American Watercolor Society International Juried Exhibitions.

Publications of her work include “Splash 18” and the upcoming “Splash 19” watercolor books, as well as magazine articles in The Art of Watercolour, Pratique Des Arts, Watercolor Artist, Watercolor Magic, and Palette magazines. She is the author of "Watercolor Made Easy: Portraits" and was featured in "The Art of Drawing and Painting Portraits", both books published by Walter Foster Publishing.

Peggi’s artwork was selected out of 7,000 entries for the esteemed Shanghai Watercolour Biennial and the Shenzhen International Watercolour Exhibition, both in China. A popular watercolor instructor, Peggi enjoys teaching watercolor workshops and painting retreats around the country.