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Todd Overturf
Biography
 My art portrays a strong sense of place with dramatic lighting and expressive color. I consider my landscapes to be spiritual documents of my travels throughout the United States and abroad. For the past several years, Cape Cod has become a favorite subject of mine. I never tire of the color, the quality of the light or the raw beauty of the Cape as inspiration for my work. With my landscapes, I work both Plein Air and in the studio. I also produce still lifes, although, these tend to be more personal, contemplative, compositional works.
Pastel is my preferred medium. It is a perfect marriage of both the drawing and painting disciplines. Sometimes utilizing an underpainting, I use broad, painterly applications of bold, pure pastel colors. It is a very spontaneous medium, allowing calligraphic applications of pigment. I want the evidence of my hand or the "mark making" to be seen. I do not mechanically blend my colors but prefer to use strokes to optically mix the desired hue. Although my work is representational, I consider myself an expressionistic colorist.
I was born in North Carolina but my family lived in many parts of the country. Recognizing my early scribblings, my mother knew that I would become an artist. Experiencing these diverse parts of the country in my youth undoubtedly shaped my interest in landscape painting. My early years were spent in El Paso and Miami. Later moves brought me to Philadelphia, Washington, D.C., New York City and eventually, Buffalo.
I received my BFA in Painting and Drawing from the Philadelphia College of Art. I have had additional fine art training at the National Arts Club and the Arts Students League, both in New York City. My artistic affiliations have included membership in the Pastel Society of America, the Pastel Painters Society of Cape Cod, the Roycroft Renaissance Artisans Association and the Buffalo Society of Artists. I received my MS in Art Education from Buffalo State College.
My pastels are influenced most strongly by the American Impressionists. I feel that they took the work of the French Impressionists and gave it an American bravura through their unique use of color and paint application.
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