Judy Oberto was born, raised, and lived most of her life in Seattle, WA. Having always been artistic, she found no end of opportunities to use her creativity as she served people while working in the public schools and churches they attended. Then in the 1980s she took one semester of drawing and oil painting classes at their local community college. As her family grew, she was busy with them, working, and at the same time running a small graphics business out of her home. She didn’t get back seriously into painting until a few years after she and her husband retired to Bridgehaven, a suburb of Port Ludlow, WA in 2002. Community involvement and traveling in their RV used up most of their free time for the first several years until Judy’s health issues forced them to make some big changes, but ultimately it has allowed her the time needed to get back into her artwork.
In August of 2018, Judy took a watercolor class from well-known local artist, Marti Mathis, which whetted her appetite for more! Then after some online research, she found renowned botanical artist Anna Mason, http://www.annamasonart.com, who lives in the UK. She teaches internationally via online tutorials available by subscription to her online school. Judy has learned much from her as well as the many other artists on the forum there. Now she paints mostly from her own photos taken over a lot of years, but always keeping an eye out for other subjects that pique her interest artistically. Wanting to add portraiture to her portfolio of skills, however, she went looking for yet another online teacher. She discovered Susan Harrison-Tustain, who is another internationally acclaimed artist, living in Australia, http://www.susanharrison-tustain.com. Specializing in watercolor and oil portraits, Susan offers instructional videos that that can be purchased online and downloaded. These two well-known artists have very different but complementary styles, each offering invaluable representational watercolor techniques.
With the Lord’s direction, inspiration and guidance Judy’s skill continues to develop as He leads her to bring His creation to life visually on paper with watercolors. Being a perfectionist as well as a lifelong learner, Judy continues to challenge herself to find new ways to grow and improve her art skills.
Judy Oberto Art 