This Fall, local watercolorist Charlene Collins Freeman will be featured in a solo exhibition at TSUGA Fine Art & Framing, located on Main Street in downtown Bothell. “Beauty Everywhere” will begin with a public reception from 5-8 p.m. on Sept. 18. The exhibit will continue through Oct. 24.

“Beauty Everywhere” is a celebration of the small things in life – a hummingbird alighting on a flower, the reflections in a shop window, the gentle cascade of early morning light filtering through an old European alleyway.

Freeman’s art is inspired by the quiet moments so easily overlooked in the melange of everyday business. By uncovering the sacred quality in these stolen, in-between seconds, the artist is able to preserve what she believes are the snippets of life that make up who we really are as people. In reference to the vignette of Italian life at dawn that she captures in Wake Up Siena,

“Painting [that moment] has immortalized it for me and allows me to share with others the magic of everyday moments,” Freeman said. “Beauty is everywhere.”

Freeman uses photography to capture spontaneous moments which she saves as source material for future paintings. She will snap several images of anything that interests her and then chooses which captures draw the strongest emotional response.

“I don’t overthink what I want to paint,” Freeman said. “When I see something that I have a strong emotional response to, that’s all I need to decide to paint it.”

Freeman’s paintings are marked by a stillness that seems to freeze her subjects in a single instant. Rather than focusing on the fleeting nature of these perfect moments, the artist defies the constant flux of the modern world and instead precisely preserves them for her audiences to ponder at will.

Freeman was honored by the city of Kenmore in 2010 when the city commissioned her to make a painting in dedication of the city’s new City Hall and again in 2013 when the city purchased another watercolor for its Public Art Collection.

Freeman teaches drawing, painting, and the joy of sketchbooking at Arts Umbrella, Tsuga Fine Art & Framing in Bothell, Cascadia Community College in Bothell, Edmonds Community College, Everett Community College, and SilverKite Community Arts in Lake City. She also leads sketchbook workshops around the world.