KEESEVILLE — Keeseville artist Ann Pember immortalizes her dear departed cats in paintings, which are garnering national recognition.
“Kelsey, Rest In Peace” has been accepted for the Watercolor USA 2026 Exhibition at the George A. Spiva Center for the Arts in Joplin, Missouri. The dates of the show are May 30 through July 26.
“Kato” has been juried into the American Watercolor Society 159th International Exhibition, which will be held at the Salmagundi Club in New York City from April 7 to May 1. There will be an opening reception April 7 from 6 to 8 p.m. and an awards dinner on May 1 at 5 p.m.
“The two portraits of the cats are of cats that have died recently. The one that got into AWS, it was an Himalayan. I had two of them. They lived to be almost 20. I lost him a couple of years ago, Kato. Then, the tiger cat (Kelsey) came after he died. I had him only for about eight years, and he passed recently,” Pember said. “There was another painting of Kelsey that got into the Watercolor West Exhibition. That was after he died. The one in the Southern Watercolor was before.
“I’m down to one after having about four, but they posed nicely for me. The one I have left is Dusty, and she’s an all gray kitty. I’ve painted her, as well. She was in a show recently, but she’s been in several shows.”
Pember has painted in watercolors since the 1980s. After graduating from the Massachusetts College of Art, she did commercial work.
When she paints depends on the light in her Water’s Edge Studio.
“I try to fit it into the day, but the light is best usually in the afternoon for my setup. Typically, that’s when I paint,” she said.
“I usually do a lot of photos, and then I work up a drawing from the photo, and sometimes I will use more than one and take aspects from it. I don’t just copy it. Some people project it. If you do that, sometimes you have inconsistencies and distortions. I make sure I do a corrected drawing before I start, then it’s just kind of free form.
“I feel like I’m in the zone when I’m painting. I won’t just sit there for hours. I get up every so often to make sure I like where it’s going. I might change my mind about how I will handle it. My style of working is not as hard line as it used to be. It comes from having softer edges.
“A lot of people will just project an image on the paper and feel in the lines, and that gives it a very hard look. The light creates softness in some places, so I have been trying to enhance that. I think it makes for more mood in the paintings.”
“Bursting Out” has been juried into the 2026 Illinois Watercolor Society 42nd national Exhibition in Dixon, Illinois, at the Next Picture Show Gallery. The exhibition will be displayed from April 30 to May 30.
“Shimmer” was selected for the 36th Annual Rockies West National, which is currently running through April 3 at The Art Center of Western Colorado, Grand Junction, Colorado.
“Glorious Gloxinia” has been selected for inclusion in the Watercolor Society of Alabama’s 85th Annual National Exhibition. The exhibition, May 3 to June 5, will take place at Heritage Hall Museum in Talladega, Alabama.
Pember doesn’t teach anymore, but her books can be purchased online and downloaded. Her titles are “Discover Your Inner Inspiration,” “Make Flower Paintings Glow in Watercolor,” “The Magic of Painting on Smooth Surfaces in Watercolor” and “Make Dynamic Paintings in Watercolor.” There are limited hardcover copies of “Painting Close-Focus Flowers in Watercolor.”
“I developed Lyme disease about 15 years ago, and it made me not want to travel anymore. It was fun to do when I enjoyed having the students. There’s only so much you can teach locally, so I decided that it was time to retire that aspect of painting,” she said.
Pember also ceased her annual art show at her studio, which is now open by appointment only.
“It’s a lot of work to prepare for the show. I’m putting all of my energy in just painting,” she said.
Why does Pember paint?
“Because I have to. I just feel like it’s part of my life,” she said.
“I started drawing when I could barely hold a pencil. Art has been with me pretty much all of my years except for one or two. I have my favorite paints because of how they function, and I blend them together to make different colors. So they’re like my base colors. The colors that I’m going to use for any one painting are determined by the subject.”
Pember used to garden, but that also became an issue with the Lyme disease.
“If I go out and weed next to the driveway, sometimes I’ll come in with a tick. You can be reinfected again, so I have to be really careful about that. I try to move around and do what I can. I like to read. I keep busy,” she said.
Her subject matter still includes floras, landscapes, portraits and still lifes.
“My husband has been my subject for numerous paintings, and friends and relatives. It’s got to be something that moves me to want to paint it,” Pember said.
“Sometimes, I will do a still life set up. One morning, I was getting ready for break, and the light was streaming into the kitchen window. I had a glass of water in an antique glass that had a blue handle and rim. It created the most incredible light pattern at the bottom of the glass, and I thought, ‘I have to paint that.’ That’s on my list of things to paint.”