7 3/8" x 15 5/8" x 2 Oil on linen 2006.

"My figurative beachscape paintings strive to capture the essence of a personal, close-up view within the context of distilled environs. I love the process of painting in oils. Employing a spontaneous, painterly approach coupled with bold, intense color and simple, iconographic compositions, my canvas develops from drawing and grisaille underpainting to an alla prima finish. The interaction of color, light, shadow, and reflection is a primary interest. The theme of the beach and its inhabitants is reminiscent of my childhood, where long, lazy summers were spent soaking up the sun, surf, and sand in the company of friends and family, seagulls and sand crabs. The seashore invites us to take a step into a natural world that liberates us from the cares of everyday life – a place to take off your shoes and take a deep breath. The immediacy and oneness with nature is at once contemplative and invigorating. I aim to reveal the inner essence of the individual with the purpose of expressing universal sentiments. I seek to capture specific moments of contemplation, discovery, freedom, joy — unobserved moments preserved.

Seaside travels to Martha’s Vineyard, Nantucket, Sand Key Park, Sanibel Island, Spring Lake, Assateaugue Island, Ponce de Leon Inlet, Sebastian Inlet and Sarasota have been a source
of inspiration."

Claudia Waters is known for her figurative beachscape and underwater oil paintings. She earned a BFA from Parsons School of Design and has studied painting at the Art Students League, the Yard School of Art, and a masterclass workshop with Philip Pearlstein. Her paintings have been shown in national and regional exhibitions both by invitation and jury in Ohio, Oregon, New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania. Exhibitions include group shows at the Arnot Art Museum (NY), the Butler Institute of American Art (OH), Coos Art Museum (OR), and the Walter Wickiser Gallery (NYC). Jurors have included Beth A. Venn (The Newark Museum), Steven H. Miller (The Morris Museum), Larry Salander, and Philip Pearlstein.

Waters received the Allied Artists of America Award for Running Conversation, an oil on linen, at the 71st Midyear at The Butler Institute of American Art (Youngstown, OH) in 2007. She was awarded third prize for Edgartown Light in the Oceans, Rivers, Lakes and Streams show at the Park Avenue Club (Florham Park, NJ) in 2005. For the Spring 2008 issue her painting A Perfect Day was featured on the cover of the Montclair Art Museum Education Brochure. Several arts cover articles about the artist have been written by Joan Finn (2006-2009) in The Montclair Times.
   
In 2007 Waters was featured in a three-person show, Sea and Sky, at the Kirkland Art Center (Clinton, NY). Ten paintings were included in Mini-Mania 2 at The Arts Guild of Rahway (Rahway, NJ).  At The Walter Wickiser Gallery (NYC) four paintings were in Just the Figure, an invitational group show also in 2007. A solo exhibition at the Park Avenue Club (Florham Park, NJ) took place in 2008. The group shows Currents, at the Court Gallery, William Patterson University (Wayne, NJ), and Personal Vistas at the Montclair Art Museum, Yard Arcade (Montclair, NJ), also took place in 2008.  Waters was part of the national juried exhibit, Out of the Blue, at the Attleboro Arts Museum (Attleboro, MA) in July 2008. Laughing Gull received a finalist award in the animal/wildlife category of The Artist’s Magazine’s 25th Annual Art Competition in 2008. An invitational group show, 8 Visions, at the Attleboro Arts Museum (Attleboro, MA) in 2009 featured Waters’ beachscape paintings.

Resilience of Being is part of the Metro 26 Show at City Without Walls (Newark, NJ).  The exhibition jurors were Chris Coover, Christie’s; Kathleen Gilrain, Smack Mellon Studios; and Priska C. Juschka, Priska C. Juschka Fine Art. The Metro 26 show travels throughout the state of New Jersey for one year in 2009.

In 2010 Waters will have a solo exhibition at the Edward Williams Gallery, Fairleigh Dickinson Univerisity, Hackensack, NJ.

Claudia Waters’ paintings are in numerous private collections.