Artist of the Month: Cassandra Peters

When it comes to creating art that has fundamental and realistic touches, Mt. Hood Villages resident Cassandra Peters sets the bar high. A resident of the area for almost two years, Peters finds passion in the work she creates and shares with her community. Gifted in the art of photorealistic paintings and drawings, Peters takes an image and replicates it through paint with as much of photogenic likeness as possible. “My primary focus is rendering subjects such as people, pets, landscapes as photorealistic as my ability goes,” Peters said. “I mainly use oil and acrylic mediums with mixed media like gold leaf and pens. I absolutely love adding gold leaf to my paintings because I love how it creates a glow, which in turn reminds me of Gustav Klimt,” Peters added.

Connecting with art at the early age of eight, Peters has fond memories of her first painting, which seems to have informed her drive and desire to continue on with her passion. “I remember taking an art class and painting with tempera paint a still life of a blue vase,” Peters said. “I'm not sure where that painting is now, but it definitely was the first of many that got my interest piqued,” Peters added. With high school and college level art classes as her foundation, Peters studied the arts and honed in on her skills throughout most of her education. “I got accepted into a magnet school in Las Vegas called the Las Vegas Academy of Performing and Visual Arts, where they had an amazing art program,” Peters said. “I had to audition to get accepted into the program and spent my four high school years studying my regular studies as well as college level art courses in preparation for college,” Peters added.

After Peters made the move to Portland, her art studies continued, as well as her range of creative outlets. “I spent a couple years at Portland Community College focusing on drawing/painting/printmaking, then transferred and graduated from Portland State University,” Peters said. Graduating from Portland State with a degree in fine arts, Peters had some pretty remarkable experiences during her tenure as an art student. “I studied abroad in Florence, Italy through a program called SACI, Studio Art Centers International,” Peters said. “It was such a memorable and enlightening experience that taught me so much about culture and the arts, and created inspiration for years to come,” Peters added.

With a plethora of experience under her belt, Peters not only uses her background and education to propel her creativity, but also finds her environment a source of constant inspiration. “I see the beauty and try to incorporate something new in my work. I see light through the trees and smell the rain and just want to go home and paint,” Peters said. “I've always been attracted to high contrast, black and white photographs the most. I think they are striking and beautiful and I love trying to render them as closely as possible,” Peters added.

Seeing the beauty in everyday images, Peters also values how living in The Mt. Hood Villages has given her momentum. “I swear, every day I look at the trees, smell the clean air, see deer everywhere – I just feel inspired to go home and draw something,” Peters said. “It's very freeing and comfortable and has also inspired working on wood surfaces. I've also been working on a few more landscapes these days than I have ever done,” Peters added.

For more information on how to view and purchase Peters’ work, please visit her Instagram page @artbycassandra21 or email her at artbycassandra21@gmail.com.