Catherine McIlhenny lives with her husband in Harleysville, PA.  The fields, walking paths, farms, trees, and community provide her with the inspiration for her pastel paintings.

Even as a small child, she loved being outdoors climbing trees and wandering through the woods. She has always loved to draw.  Her mother said, “she was always making something”.

Art has always been an important part of Catherine’s life.  While raising her three children and her coordinating her interior design business she was not able to draw and paint as often as she would have liked.  She continued to go to museums and art shows and took art classes when she was able. She participated in Art Goes to School, a program that brings art history into local public schools.  She eventually became a member of the portfolio committee.

Catherine has taken many art classes through the years, but a pastel class taught by Teresa DeSeve was the most important of her life as an artist.  Teresa prompted her in class about the importance of an artist finding their direction.  Catherine recognized that her love of nature, gardening and her community would be her artistic calling: sky, clouds, trees, flowers, farms, ponds, and fields would be her subject.  Although she doesn’t paint the figure, she consistently participates in figure drawing classes.

Her work has been included in many juried exhibits such as Wayne Art Center, Perkiomen Valley Art Center, Greater Norristown Art League, Meadowood, and Pastel Society of Philadelphia where she has won awards at all of them. Recently, she was invited to do a Sunday Art Talk at Maplewood Estates about pastels and her journey as an artist.

She is a member of the Philadelphia Pastel Society, International Association of Pastel Artists, Greater Norristown Art League, and Perk Valley Art Center. Catherine is currently a pastel instructor at Greater Norristown Art League teaching a beginner/intermediate class.