Biography & Resume

Biography

Cami Thompson is passionate about her art.

A native of Michigan, she has lived and worked in the Rocky Mountains for the past 40 years, which has helped her to paint the natural landscape, its wildlife and people in a celebration of light and color.

Having moved to the Taos area in northern New Mexico in 2001, she is busy producing numerous works reflecting the incredible scenery of her natural environment.

In the 1990s she traveled to Alaska 4 consecutive years where she painted over 250 paintings, taught workshops and finalized each trip with a one-woman exhibit. All but a very few of those paintings sold to Alaskans and her work is in the permanent collection of the Baranov Museum on Kodiak Island.

Her paintings are hanging in private and corporate collections throughout the world. Cami has won numerous awards and recognition in her field including: Best of Show, 1997, Artists of Colorado at the Colorado History Museum in Denver; Top 100 Arts for the Parks 2004; Top 200 Arts for the Parks 2004; Top 150 Arts for the Parks 2005; Taos Invites Taos show 2006, 07, 08 and 09; “Living Legends of Taos,” 2012 show Taos Art Museum at Fechin House. However, the best award for Cami is to have her paintings giving light to the lives of others.

Technique

The method I use is based on the traditional painters of Europe taught to me by the masters I studied under many years ago. The paint is applied thinly at first in a traditional underpainting; or at times I paint on a totally white surface. My paintings are done in studio and in plein air. Many of my plein air paintings have been used as studies for studio pieces.

Pure oil colors are used, with a relatively narrow color palette. No toxic chemicals enter my studio or go on site with me. My brushes are cleaned in soy oil. The mixing medium I use is linseed oil. This is a nontoxic way to produce luminous oil paintings designed to last for many years. Each painting is carefully varnished at just the right time to preserve the color. My paintings can easily be cleaned over the years to keep them as fresh as the day they were finished. The surfaces I most often choose to paint on are panel, linen or canvas.

I have painted many commissioned works with a wide variety of subject matter. I love to collaborate with my clients so that the paintings they envision come to life through my brush. Bringing joyful energy and color through my paintings to others is a huge dividend for me.

Resume

1971 to 2014
Dedicated time to developing and refining skills as an oil painter, working on both large and small canvasses from life and nature.

1996 to 2000
Workshop leader for the Aspen Art Museum. Work shop leader on Kodiak Island, Alaska at the University of Alaska and the Northern Exposure Gallery.

1980 to 1994
Designed and created elegant woman’s art-to-wear clothing line/home furnishings which were marketed internationally. Local Aspen area artists were trained by Cami to produce multitudinous products.

1971 to 1979
Hand painted needlepoint canvasses were designed by Cami and marketed through direct sales and mail order catalogs.  Ms. Thompson employed many Colorado artists to fill the orders from all over the USA. The appeal of over 150 different designs is still current.

EDUCATION
1970                
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI.   Illustration and Watercolor

1967-1968
Kendall School of Design, Grand Rapids, MI.  Commercial Art

1963-1966     
Hope College, Holland, MI.   Fine Arts Major