Meet Our Artists
Ruby Annette
Ruby Annette Gonzalez is a contemporary portrait painter based in Fredericksburg, Texas. Known for her unique approach to pointillism, she creates highly textured portraits using toothpicks to apply paint, achieving intricate layers of color and brilliance. Ruby Annette is drawn to pointillism for its ability to produce luminosity through complex color layering. While she experiments with watercolor, her finished works are defined by the vibrant texture of her pointillist technique.
Having traveled to over 30 countries, Ruby Annette draws inspiration from the diverse people and cultures she encounters. Her experiences and observations fuel her creativity, allowing her to explore themes of human trust and authenticity in her portraiture. Through her work, she examines how people connect with each other, as well as with music, pop culture, and wildlife.
Ruby Annette’s studio is located on Main Street in Fredericksburg's historic district, at the Artisan’s Loft above Allens Boots. From her studio, she enjoys observing the vibrant activity of tourists while she paints. On weekends, she opens her studio as a gallery and shop for visitors and collectors.
As a proud member of the Fredericksburg Art Guild, Ruby’s pointillism and watercolor portraits are available year-round. She also participates in the annual Marktplatz Spring Art Show & Sale, and the Oktoberfest.
Ruby Annette has also been featured in the Fredericksburg Neighbors Magazine August 2022 issue. Her paintings can be found in private collections across the United States and Europe.
Sheila Bingham
Sheila Bingham, a Fredericksburg native, was raised on her family’s ranch with a view of Enchanted Rock, cultivating in her an appreciation of nature’s beauty. She received a blend of both public and private art training. Graduating in 1973 from Fredericksburg High School, she attended the University of Texas in Austin. Initially majoring in art and later switching to math education, Sheila earned a Bachelor of Science degree in 1977. In her art, Sheila focuses on colored pencils and acrylics. Her other hobbies include dancing and gardening.
Cindy Cherrington
My career was in the Oil and Gas Industry for over 35 years. Occasionally, I would take up a new art form and work on it part time. When my son went to college, I became an empty nester with lots of time on my hands. I first started my art career as a wire wrapping artist firing fused dichroic glass cabochons to make jewelry. For over 10 years I was successful as a part time artist. Then, I got laid off my career job. Because of the downturn in the energy market, I decided to be a full-time artist. And I couldn’t be happier!
My love of glass turned from having one small kiln into five. For the past 15 years my passion has been making glass panels using powdered, crushed, and cut pieces of glass. I transform the hard cold glass by layering these compatible glass elements and firing them in a kiln. Layering and firing are done multiple times to create the depth and texture of the glass piece. I work a lot in “tack fusing” which fires the glass to the base glass but leaves the texture. It’s thrilling to open the door each time to see how the piece has developed. It can take many days, even weeks, to complete one piece.
My love of nature inspires me to create landscapes and still life panels. It’s easy to be inspired when living in the hill country for the past 4 years.
As an award-winning glass artist, I compete in numerous juried shows around Texas. My work can be found in several galleries in Texas. I even teach all levels of glass fusing in my studio in Fredericksburg.
I love the true colors of glass and the different ways light plays on transparencies and opaques. There are numerous techniques and styles of fusing glass. Experimenting is the best way to learn, and I continue along that path.
Judy Earls
Judy is a retired librarian who likes to paint, work in multimedia, and clay. Judy says, “I hope you enjoy my work."
Truby Hardin
Truby has been painting since 1972 and now teaches oil painting at the Guild on Wednesdays. She prefers to paint still life in the style of the old masters, but offers many Texas bluebonnet paintings as well.
Nancy Hardison
Nancy Hardison is a retired art teacher from the Fredericksburg Independent School District where she enjoyed sharing her love of art with middle school and high school students for 28 years. Ten years ago
Nancy retired from teaching others and embarked upon a personal art career. She joined the Guild where she displays her beautiful landscapes depicting many of the scenes around the hill country. Although no longer teaching professionally, she volunteers for the children’s art classes, which are conducted each year, free of charge, at the Guild.
Erica Haupert
Erica Haupert was raised in Houston, Texas, spending her childhood cultivating a love for architecture, pencil drawing and oil pastels. Other than being mentored by her art teacher and childhood best friend’s mother, Ms. Patsy Pearson of Houston, she is primarily self-taught. She graduated from Arizona State University with a BA that included two years of architecture training in the Frank Lloyd Wright School of Architecture and Design. She went on to pursue a career in the Arts (fashion/film/television as a model, actor, in production and rights management) while painting remained a deep passion. She spent twenty-two years in Los Angeles, California where her company Wing Light Art Designs was born in 2019. During Covid lockdown, she and her husband moved their four young children to the Texas hill country to be closer to her family who live in Georgetown, Austin, and Lufkin respectively. Undoubtedly, her passion for creating acrylic paintings on large canvases is where she explores intricate technical elements, most notably gold accents, and sacred geometric images. She uses her architecture training, meditation, and spiritual practices as inspiration. Erica has a profound reverence for world religion, mythology, religious symbolism, deities, and sacred geometry. She also loves to do watercolors and abstracts, focusing mostly on whimsical concepts.
Erica has several online stores that feature her artwork on various products including candle labels, clothing, home goods and décor. She has worked with several business owners on commissioned art and partners with brides on wedding gift options. She is most happy while painting alongside her four kids, dog, Spike Lord Business and cat, Jeffrey Lord Vader in the studio that sits by her husband’s home office.
Visit her website: www.winglightartdesigns.com
Check out her Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/winglightartdesigns/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WingLightArtDesigns
Online products created from her art can be found at:
https://www.etsy.com/shop/WingLightArtDesigns
Nan Henke
Nan says she was not lucky enough to be born in the Texas Hill Country but made up for it by marrying into the Fredericksburg area ranching world. It did not take her long to figure out that she loved it and wanted to paint everything she saw. When she paints, she feels like nothing else matters and she can just live in the color and line of the moment.
Website:
Facebook:
Instagram: Nan Henke Art
Matt Henn
I am a self-taught studio artist and have been working my craft for over 35 years. I have lived in and painted the landscapes of three states. Cal. N.M. and Tx. Including the seascapes of Cal. and Tx.
I paint with oils on self-stretched canvas and apply the paint with brushes and or palette knives. I generally start with a vague idea of what I want to paint and how I want to paint it, often discovering it is slowly, subtly, changing into something different. I love this/these discoveries and the challenges that they offer up.
I choose not to list all of my accomplishments including numerous one man shows. Nor am I including the featured articles in newsprint or magazine which constitute a part of my resume. I believe that no matter where my journey has been it is of little consequence to the viewer in the present moment. The public will embrace the paintings presented here or reject them as they see fit.
Svetlana Hipsky
My name is Svetlana Hipsky. I was born and raised in Russia.
For six years now I have been living in Fredericksburg, with my
beloved husband. We live on a small ranch. with the
Barbados sheep
, chickens, cats, birds, bees, monarchs and all the
other critters
that visit us as they like. Favorites are the deer,
hummingbirds, monarchs and painted buntings, but we
could get
along just fine without the scorpions, skunks and
armadillos digging
up the yard!
I think I was born an artist,
I have always been very visual, my mood changes with my
surroundings.
My passion for art was always deep within and became
excitedly launched
upon my arrival in the beautiful hill country of South
Central Texas. Inspired by the beautiful flowers,
dynamic landscape
and especially the friendly, welcoming atmosphere I
am happy to create images of the beauty and happiness I feel
inside.
Peggy Joyce
Peggy loves to paint any subject that “speaks to her.” She strives to be in tune with her subjects to convey the mood and emotions that initially attracted her to the subject.
Mary Lee
Mary Lee was a tole painter for years. After moving to Fredericksburg, Mary decided to try her hand at oil painting. She has been taking classes for three years and absolutely loves it. She hopes y’all enjoy her work as much as she enjoys painting them.
Marion Loucks
Marion Loucks paints landscapes in oils. She has a B.F.A. from the University of Tulsa, post graduate work in Arts Administration and independent study under Nancy Bush, Ann Templeton, Albert Handell and Jill Carver.
Her subject matter reflects the Texas Hill Country where she lives and the southwest where she frequently visits. Her work is in public and private collections.
"I am compelled to paint the landscape for many reasons but especially to record my joy in the natural world around me. I think beauty is a good thing and I want to capture it - if just for a moment."
Joyce Malatek
Creative expression has always been a driving force in Joyce Roland Malatek’s
life as a native Texan. Musically gifted, Joyce mastered numerous instruments in her
youth to accompany her developed singing voice. Although audibly talented, the visual
arts were always her favorite form of expression.
After graduation from the University of Houston, the realities of raising a family
forced Joyce to put down her guitar, but she never let go of her paintbrush.
She even found that the high stress of her career could be brushed away with the
tickle of horsehair on canvas. Joyce has spent over three decades honing her craft while studying under some of the most influential artists of today.
Oils are Joyce’s favorite painting medium, due to their unique blending
qualities. While realism is important in her animal studies, Joyce is constantly
challenging herself to experience new interpretations of their personalities
by adding the bold and rich colors of the southwest to her pallet.
Today, Joyce paints in her new barn studio surrounded by an abundance of
wildlife and her beloved donkeys, Maria and JJ, and black Lab, Kaycee. She recently
relocated to Llano, Texas, from Junction, Texas, where she continues to appreciate the importance of preserving the Hill Country land she calls home. “Nature and the beauty of simple things” are common themes in her portfolio and lend inspiration to her work.
Michael McAleer
Michael loves producing fine art photography. Photography is a way of capturing beauty for others to enjoy. Michael’s photography contains a variety of subject matter that features color, form, symmetry, and space to convey their beauty.
Website: www.mcaleerphotoart.com
Jan Miller
Jan likes to take a “naïve” approach to her art; splashing her canvas with an array of colors! Her subject matter is inspired by her day to day journey in life’s great adventure. In 2018, Jan was invited by the Pedernales Creative Arts Alliance to produce a painting for the 2018 Food and Wine Fest.
Tom Miller
Tom’s art is influenced by the early 19th century artists. Tom always tries to paint what he feels and “feel what he paints.” Colors are important to him in projecting these “feelings.”
Suzanne Morhart
Suzanne is a graduate of Kansas State University. She majored in art, with a minor in education. She taught art in Kansas City.
She and her family moved to Cambridge, MA where she continued painting, taking workshops, and participating in community and M.I.T art exhibits. After leaving Massachusetts she lived in Miami Florida. Her work was featured at Par Elegance in Pinecrest Florida. She also took part in the Coconut Grove Art Festival. After moving to Fredericksburg she became a member of the Fredericksburg Art Guild, Die Kuntsler and the Kerrville Art Club.
Her work has received numerous awards over the years and is in private collections.
Jean Northington
As a nature & wildlife photographer, Jean Northington captures the shapes and colors of Texas and the creatures who live here in her fine art photography and digital painting photography.
“I seek compelling content that pulls the viewer in, good composition, and beautiful light in my
quest to elevate photography to art. When a viewer asks me, Is this a painting or a photograph?, I know I’ve achieved my goals. “
Jean’s art is also available at Big Bend Gallery in Alpine, The Gage Hotel gift shop in Marathon, the Paisano Hotel gift shop in Marfa, and Murphy Creek Cellars in Mason. Visit her website at: www.bigbendvistas.com.
Cathy Pankratz
Cathy lives in the Texas Hill Country in Comfort, Texas, a small town close to San Antonio. She has lived here nearly all of her life, graduating from Comfort High School in 1973. She has been married to her husband Kenneth for 47 years and they have two children and five grandchildren.
Cathy started painting in her twenties, but then life happened and she did not pick up a brush again until a few years ago when she was in her sixties. Cathy paints mostly in oils, but also likes to dabble in acrylics and pastels. She has been painting mostly as a hobby, but lately has aspired to become a professional artist.
Cathy participated in the Comfort Art Festival in 2020. She has also recently joined the Kerrville (Texas) Art Club, where she currently holds the office of Secretary. Since joining, she has participated in one show and awarded second place for a landscape and an honorable mention in the wildlife category. She was also named Artist of the Month in February, 2021.
Cathy can be reached at cathypankratzarts@gmail.com or her website: cathypankratzarts.com.
DJ Roche
DJ (Donna) Roche works primarily in encaustic medium. A retired firefighter, she has an affinity for the process, which requires heat and flame to fix the medium of beeswax, resin, and pigment. Her work includes abstracts, impressionistic landscapes, and assemblages incorporating metal, bone, paper, fabric, and natural elements including leaves, grasses, twigs, feathers, and seeds.
Nancy Skoog
As an artist I am exploring, experimenting and simply thrilled with expressing myself in my art. Since moving to the Hill Country in 2009 from Michigan I’ve been lucky enough to find a supportive art community where I am continuing to develop my style and hone my skills. Originally I was drawn to oil painting and have recently found that the looseness and expression found in acrylic pouring techniques have become my passion.
I strive to put on canvas the feeling of what I’ve created and have the viewer make a connection. Each of my pieces becomes a little story. I’m interested in a variety of subjects and am a member of the Fredericksburg Art Guild and Die Kunstler von Fredericksburg.
I hope you enjoy my art – it’s immensely enjoyable to create.
Nancy Skoog
231-829-2444
Ninapina3@yahoo.com
Melissa Starry
Melissa enjoys a narrative style in her photography and mixed media paintings. She incorporates photography, printmaking, acrylics, oil pastels, collage, and found objects onto textured paper or canvas. “Creativity is an exciting process: an idea can evolve over many years. Available mediums and subject matter are endless.”
Gayle Wilson
Gayle joined the Fredericksburg Art Guild in 2019. After retiring from UT Dallas, Gayle and her husband Lee built Bobcat Ranch on their property west of Fredericksburg where each ply their artistic talents. They frequently take commissions, and Gayle has painted Garden Peace Poles and unique bird baths and birdhouses for the Fredericksburg Herb Farm and the Riverside Nature Center as well as individual customers. Since 2013, she has been working primarily in found objects, arranged and attached on bases of reclaimed wood. Her work has often been described as whimsical.
In July 2019 Gayle had a solo show at the Goodrich Gallery in Dallas which featured 45 of her found object works. She was the Guild’s Featured Artist in September 2020.
Website: www.bobcatranchworkshop.com
Lee Wilson
Lee lives with his wife Gayle in the Texas Hill Country outside of Fredericksburg. Lee
worked consecutively
as a clinical audiologist, Audiology Clinical Director and Clinical Professor
of Audiology
in the U.T. Dallas Doctor of Audiology Program at the Callier Center for
Communication Disorders over a period of 37 years.
In September 2016, the Wilsons retired and built Bobcat Ranch
(www.bobcatranchworkshop.com) in Gillespie County about five miles west of
Fredericksburg. Gayle
, also a member of the Fredericksburg Art Guild, is a specialist in Found Object Art,
and Lee
makes and rehabs furniture as a hobby. Together they produce Garden Art which consists
of birdhouses, birdbaths and garden peace poles.
Lee has for many years had an abiding interest in photography and has specialized in wildlife,
nature, landscape, and skyscape photography. Prior to moving to Gillespie County, much of
Lee’s photographic subject matter came from trips to Canada, the national parks of the
Western United States, and from time spent with family in Australia and Hawai’i.
More recently
he was published in the 2018 Calendar of the Hill Country
Alliance. Lee
joined the Fredericksburg Art Guild with a Photography specialty in May, 2022.
Website: www.bobcatranchworkshop.com
Kristine Ziems
Kristine is a self-taught, intuitive artist who gains inspiration from her travels as well as her local environment. Her work expresses what she sees and feels in an abstract manner. Kristine started painting in 2015 primarily with alcohol ink, acrylic paint, and encaustic wax. She loves color, texture, and movement in her paintings. She will often mix techniques, media, and materials to create unique pieces of art.
In 2022, Kristine’s abstract piece entitled “White Cardinal” placed first in paintings in the 17th Annual Juried Show “Texas Faces and Places” held at the Guild for all Hill Country Artist. In 2019, Kristine’s encaustic piece, “Mt. Fuji” placed third in mixed media in the 16th Annual Juried Show “Magic of the Ordinary” held at the Guild.
In addition to the Guild, her work can be seen at Chase’s Place Cocktails + Kitchen, 313 E. San Antonio Street in Fredericksburg.
Kristine is honored to have her art with private collectors currently in Texas, Arizona, North Carolina, Tennessee, Utah, and Florida. She accepts a limited number of commissions each year. Feel free to contact her!