Featured Artist Linda K. Bridges

Linda’s Bio:

Linda is an avid follower of Jesus Christ and loves to serve Him wherever He places her. She and her husband have served God on several mission fields and in their current abode in Colorado Springs, Colorado. In the last 15 years, Linda has honed her skills as a writer, an artist, and a children’s storybook illustrator. She first learned to paint using oils and created a few fine paintings back in the 80s & 90s and sold a few watercolor paintings, but she put all that behind her when she and her husband moved back overseas in 2004-2009.

Linda picked up watercolor painting again in 2014 and learned acrylics in 2017. She says, “Sometimes I find I have to try painting something hard, just to see if I can do it!”

Lately, she works in acrylic and oils and is pursuing the finishing of her latest children’s illustrated storybook. Her art style varies from realism to impressionistic to abstract. She sells her art in local galleries and her website. Sometimes she paints commissioned works. Her blog features her two children’s picture books for 4-7 year olds.

Linda’s Awards:

My Hummingbird Garden—an acrylic painting—won a first-place award in a juried art show in Longmont, CO. The theme for that show was A Few of My Favorite Things in Nov. 2024.

I have been the featured artist at two galleries this year. Bella Art & Frame in Monument, CO during September 2025, and October 17, 2025 at Academy Art & Frames.

Linda’s favorite things to paint:

I paint a lot of landscapes using oils, watercolors and pastels. I love painting beautiful scenes. This past two years, I started integrating some wildlife into my scenes; bison, owls, birds, and some family pets. Pets are fun, and I intend to work this year on a few more. I’m also interested in trying a landscape featuring a deer/and or brown bear, of which I have never tried.

Linda also works in:

I like acrylics for my abstract adventures in art experiences, particularly the liquid acrylic pouring technique, superimposing more realistic objects over the poured backgrounds like owls, birds or flowers using traditional oils or acrylics painting techniques. I now have a series of seven owl paintings (some currently on display at Bella Art & Frames Fine Art Gallery). [I will submit some of these images for the website.]

I love pastels as well. I recently painted a snowy scene with a chickadee on a snowy pinecone titled Winter’s Songbird. This year, I have painted mostly in oils and watercolors; tried a few watercolor florals on Yupo paper—which I classify as a totally ‘other’ medium and technique! But I want to explore this medium more in the future.

Linda’s favorite or most admired artists:

I love the Impressionists! And personally, I loved Vincent Van Gogh. His use of bright colors, striking, vivid and textured landscapes and night scenes intrigues me. Several years ago, I painted my rendition of Van Gogh’s painting, The Wheat Fields, using acrylic paints. (see below) I’d really like to try one of his night scenes and a sunflower painting after his brush technique and color scheme—just to practice a new technique. Of course, I’m not sure how this would work with watercolor—but for sure, it will with oils and acrylics.

Linda’s favorite or most admired artists:

I love the Impressionists! And personally, I loved Vincent Van Gogh. His use of bright colors, striking, vivid and textured landscapes and night scenes intrigues me. Several years ago, I painted my rendition of Van Gogh’s painting, The Wheat Fields, using acrylic paints. (see below) I’d really like to try one of his night scenes and a sunflower painting after his brush technique and color scheme—just to practice a new technique. Of course, I’m not sure how this would work with watercolor—but for sure, it will with oils and acrylics.

Linda’s goals for the next year:

Every year in January, I choose a ‘word for the year’—to keep as a focus word. This practice has helped me to push through the busy areas of my life as the year moves along. I ponder this and, because I’m a praying person, I ask for insight into what might motivate me throughout the year.

For 2025, my focus word has been “Finish!”
Like a lot of Creatives I know, I too, have stacks of projects ‘almost done’, more than a few paintings almost ready to frame, and an illustrated children’s book that is three quarters of the way to THE END. So this year, and next in 2026, I my word emphasis will be on the “completion of the last steps of my works process.

Three words come to mind in motivating my commitment to achieving this goal of ‘FINISH’:
Intentional focus(this entails enthusiasm, passion, planning, and goal setting)
Grace—being gracious with myself when I cannot meet a goal along the way.
Keep Moving Forward (No stopping allowed! This involves tenacity, action and overcoming obstacles.)
I’ve been blessed to keep focused this year (2024/2025) and my successes have encouraged me to continue with this focus word. Sales, art invitations to shows, school visits with my books, painting and writing a LOT more, and doing both better mentally and physically, have been the evidence. I have also felt my skills in each medium I’ve used improving because of this focus.

So, my motto is “See it, sketch it, paint it, sell it! Dream it, write it, edit it, finish it!”

FAVORITE ARTSY QUOTE

“See it, sketch it; paint it; sell it!”
Anonymous

“I dream my painting, and then I paint my dream.”
Vincent van Gogh

“Painting is poetry that is seen rather than felt, and poetry is painting that is felt rather than seen.”
Leonardo da Vinci

Linda’s Tip or Trick:

It’s not anything you don’t know already. It’s pretty mundane, actually—something we all know and probably don’t practice enough: the practice of sketching before painting. Not just the scene, but individual shapes. I like to do this with charcoal sticks or graphite pencils—and I try to do them quickly in my sketchbook—not longer than 30 minutes. I must have sketched 10 bison sketches before I painted my first bison painting. This really helped me with anatomy and expression. One artist I know shared that this builds muscle memory and helps embed those shapes into our subconscious, so that it becomes more natural for us on our designs and actual paintings.

I also do small practice paintings in my art journal—especially trees, flowers and leaf shapes, animals. Currently, I’m trying to improve my water-effects and shapes on yupo paper. This helps me to save time later when I’m in the middle of a painting.

Linda’s Book:

Linda’s website and Social Media:

Website • Children’s Book