Artist P.J., Garoutte remarks that when she applies paint to one area f the canvas she’s conscious of how it’s going to affect the rest of the work. “I feel this is going to be a good painting. I’m eager to see the rest of it. A painting is not set in stone, but has a life of its own that an artist becomes aware of as she or he continues to paint.” 

 

She met Don Bracket, her husband and fellow artist, when they were both members of the New Mexico Watercolor Society, and moved to Taos from the Albuquerque area in 1988. The studio space they share is filled with large banks of windows, and pine flooring that is kind to a painter’s physique. Paintings in various stages of completion are stacked along the perimeter of the studio and displayed on its walls. 

 

Her desire to explore nonobjective painting has intensified during what she calls the last hitch of her career. “I’ve been thinking about working in a contemporary style for a long time, and it’s evolving,” she explains. Her interest in non-objectivity has been a natural progression through Monet and Matisse, her first inspiration as a child in Hober, Missouri. For P.J. the shift is in direction is not surprising, she began her career as a watercolorist and then after fifteen years turned to oil painting.