Vanita Smithey

The artwork created by Vanita Smithey is always in a pattern of metamorphosis.  As an artist, she is never content to repeat herself methodically so her work consistently evolves. 

Smithey's art career has had two distinct periods and it may be that following her move to Santa Fe, NM, she is entering a third phase.

Prior to 1994, her works were rendered primarily in watercolor and gouache. In the mid 1990s through early 2009, encaustic was her medium of choice. But once again she has evolved and recent works are a mixed media with graphite and wax – a blending of the many techniques she has enjoyed throughout her career.

Vanita Smithey was born in the small Texas town of Olney. She married, moved to Houston and raised a family. During this time she also pursued her art. She was education director at the Houston Art League and she became a signature member of the National Watercolor Society and a member of the Texas Watercolor Society, the Art League of Houston, the Kentucky Watercolor Society and the Georgia Watercolor Society. 

It was a period of competitions and learning her craft. She received her formal art training at Texas Tech University, Western Texas College and The Glassell School at the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston.  She also studied with noted watercolorists Katherine Chang Liu, Charles Reid and Robert E. Wood.

Viewers of her current non-objective work in encaustic would find it hard to recognize her earlier representational paintings in watercolor and acrylic, and yet there is a definite linear connection. 

Smithey Portrait

It was when she moved her studio to downtown Houston that a new path opened for her. She abandoned her colorful intricate watercolors and delved into working with minimal colors. Finally she abandoned representation as she began to work with encaustics.

“My works are not literal representations, but convey the essence of the subject expressed through my personal interpretation and experiences from life and travel,” she says. “Rather than specifics, I suggest an idea through line, shape and color. Process and paint quality are of utmost importance in my work," she says.

Smithey visited Santa Fe during the early part of 2000 and fell in love with the vibrant art community, there. She found a studio space and finally, in 2009, she moved there permanently.

The inspiration of Georgia O'Keefe is certainly evident in Smithey's most recent works.