Kathy Stradley is an oil painter who was born and raised in the Redondo Beach/Torrance area of Los Angeles County.  Kathy has been creating art from the age of 4 and is currently painting in her home studio in Temecula and en plein air in the surrounding areas.  After retiring from a career in education, Kathy brushed up her art skills at Palomar Junior College, San Marcos for four years.  Kathy shows her work in Temecula as a member of the Temecula Valley Art League, in Fallbrook as a member of the Fallbrook Art Association and with the Dorland Mountain Arts Colony Associate Artists, where she is on the Board of Directors.  

She exhibits her art at the city-sponsored First Friday Art Walks in Temecula and participates in the Ralph Love Plein Air Invitational each year.  She has been a part of numerous exhibits at the Merc Gallery in Temecula and the Fallbrook Art Association Gallery and Brandon Gallery in Fallbrook.  She was invited to  present her work in two solo shows at the Grace Mellman Library in Temecula. She recently was featured in the Rotunda of the Temecula Valley Museum showing 12 original oil paintings.

Kathy has a passion for painting from life, whether it is figurative studies and portraiture in the studio or plein air landscapes on location.

Her goal is to distill the essence of her excitement about the subject matter and communicate it to her viewers.  Her use of color and play of light on the canvas creates mood and  atmosphere in her work.  Observing and painting the unique places and people of the Temecula Valley have afforded her plenty of inspiration.