For artist Katherine Irish, inspiration is quite literally outside her window.

Irish built her Placitas home in 2000 on a hill overlooking the expansive New Mexico skies. She was drawn to the beauty of the area, its views and the opportunity to live closely with nature. More than two decades later, she also counts the friendships she has made here among the things she loves most about calling Placitas home.

Those surroundings have become central to her work.

“I find inspiration in the New Mexico landscape,” Irish says. “I built my home on a hill that overlooks the beautiful New Mexico skies. That is the primary inspiration for my work, particularly sunsets.”

An Artist From the Beginning

Irish’s connection to art began long before she made it a career.

“I knew I was an artist as a child,” she says. As a young girl, she studied historical paintings in the World Book Encyclopedia, an early fascination that eventually led her to study art in Europe and New York.

She later moved to Taos specifically to pursue art professionally, beginning a career that has earned her national recognition and awards. Today, Irish enters shows across the country, shipping her work to exhibitions from New York to California.

Her medium is soft pastel, which she works on archival sanded pastel paper. Her influences span generations, countries and artistic movements. She names J.M.W. Turner, Claude Monet and Mark Rothko among her inspirations, along with Canadian painters from the Group of Seven, particularly Lawren Harris and J.E.H. MacDonald.

American landscape painters have also shaped her artistic perspective, including John Henry Twachtman, James McNeill Whistler, George Inness and Albert Pinkham Ryder. Contemporary painter Albert Handell, she says, has had a particularly significant influence on her work.

Making Time for the Work

Even after years devoted to art, one of Irish’s greatest challenges is a familiar one: finding enough time for it.

“Trying to balance painting time with taking care of the rest of my life,” she says, remains an ongoing challenge.

Still, her involvement in the arts extends well beyond her own studio. Irish serves as the Masterworks Representative for the Pastel Society of New Mexico and runs a critique group for Women Artists of the West. She also volunteers with the Placitas Studio Tour.

Her commitment to supporting the arts goes back decades. In the 1980s, she organized the first three Spirit in Art exhibits in Taos.

Her own work continues to receive recognition. Irish recently won second place at the New Mexico State Fair, and the State of New Mexico has purchased close to 15 of her paintings over the years. One of the most accessible to the public can be found at the New Mexico Museum of Natural History & Science in Albuquerque.

A Reminder to Look

For Irish, painting the landscape is about more than capturing a beautiful view. She hopes her work encourages people to notice what is already around them.

“I hope that people remember and appreciate the beauty and wonder of nature that is present and generous and available to us every day,” she says. “Taking time to open to nature is good for mental and physical health.”

Perhaps that message feels especially fitting in Placitas, where the landscape that has inspired so much of Irish’s work is part of everyday life: the hills, the open views and, above all, those New Mexico skies.

Katherine Irish’s work is available through Weems Gallery & Framing at 505-293-6133. She also participates in local exhibitions and events sponsored by the Pastel Society of New Mexico, MasterWorks of New Mexico, the Old Church Show and the Placitas Studio Tour.

To learn more about her work, visit KatherineIrish.com or find her on Instagram and Facebook at @katherine.irish.newmexico.