FINE ART.
EUMAIRA QUINTERO
Eumaira Quintero was born into a struggling farm family in Colombia, South America. She loved school, music and philosophy. After high school, she attended Medellin Academy of Fine Arts and College of Art, and worked as a drafter for an engineering company.
In her thirties, Eumaira moved to The United States, became a citizen, attended classes at University of New Mexico (UNM) and Central New Mexico Community College (CNM), worked hard, believed in the goodness of God, raised a daughter, and eventually retired as a level three Medical Coder from the UNM. During her working years, she took part in a few art shows, including the Contemporary Spanish Market in Santa Fe, and the New Mexico State Fair. Her work has also been displayed in UNM and CNM Art departments.
Retired now, Eumaira is devoting more time to her painting and her grandchildren. Her artistic vision is to paint beautiful, emotional pictures of the land and living things but whose real subject is about finding hope and peace in a difficult world.
Artist Statement
I am a happy artist. I have a bright vision of what life can be in this world. Sadness and anger over the many injustices in the world are not for me. I prefer celebrating the goodness and beauty of God and His creation. I want my uplifting, emotionally rich and often symbolic paintings to awaken people to the world’s beauty and its possibilities for joy, love and purpose, yes even in this world with its troubles and discouragements. Through faith in God and hard work I have been blessed to overcome difficulties and find spiritual meaning in God, as well as joy and love and purpose in life, and I wish to share that with others.
I love to paint emotional natural scenes and animals that are really expressions of human experiences and emotions. One my favorite animals has been the swan, which I have used to represent everything from two lovers flirting, to two companions finding rest during a difficult journey, to an individual that’s battered and dazed and relieved after surviving some catastrophic event.
For instance I am using horses to represent stages of human struggle that lead from the confusion and frustration of first facing a problem to eventually overcoming it and finding victory and peace. In my paintings, I give special attention to the earthy elements of water and air. Other aspects of nature like the sun and moon also have a special place in my work. I admire originality and constantly work for excellence in my art. It is my goal to continue to evolve as a spiritual being and as an artist and to have a positive impact on those who view my work. In my small way I want to make a few people’s lives better. I mainly work with acrylics, oils, and watercolor, on wood, canvas and paper. I like working with acrylic and oil because they are easily shaped to exactly what I envision. I like working with watercolor for the way colors flow and mix together in surprising ways.