CV/Bio
BIO & CV
About Me
I've loved creating for as long as I can remember. It has been a part of my connection to God, as I respond to His creation by reflecting it and interpreting it in my works of art.
As a child, I was constantly drawing, painting, making things, and exploring nature. My parents, Bill and Irma, encouraged that curiosity every step of the way. Our family loved road trips, collecting treasures from nature, and trying just about every kind of creative project imaginable. My mother even displayed my childhood artwork prominently throughout our home alongside her beautiful furnishings. Long before I ever imagined becoming a professional artist, she made me believe that what I created mattered.
Although art was always part of my life, it wasn't the only path I followed. I earned degrees in psychology, raised two wonderful sons, homeschooled them for many years, and worked alongside my husband, Casey, in several different adventures that filled our lives with purpose and responsibility. We owned a residential home from brain injured adults, and I was even blessed to have my mother live with us for 15 of her golden years. Through all of those years, creativity never really left me.
Along the way I found myself taking classes in painting, pottery, photography, printmaking, woodworking—anything that allowed me to lens through which I could see and experience the world. Looking back, I realize I wasn't wandering away from art. I was gathering experiences that would eventually shape the artist I would become.
When I finally returned to painting after many years away, something surprised me. I hadn't lost those years. Instead, life had quietly taught me to observe more carefully, appreciate beauty more deeply, and understand the relationships between light, color, people, and places. I often tell people that my greatest growth as an artist happened even during the years when I wasn't painting, because I was learning how to truly see.
Today I work primarily in soft pastels, a medium whose richness and painterly qualities continue to delight me. I love capturing not only the appearance of a place, but also the feeling of standing there. Whether I'm painting a quiet river, an old mill, wildlife, gardens, or changing light across the landscape, my hope is that someone else will pause long enough to experience that same moment of wonder.
In recent years my creative life has grown far beyond painting alone. Through my YouTube channel, Pastel Tapas, I invite viewers to journey with me to the places that inspire my artwork, and show demo highlights of the pastels created from these adventures. Rather than simply teaching techniques, I enjoy sharing the experience of slowing down, observing, and discovering beauty in ordinary places. On Patreon I continue that journey with demonstrations, behind-the-scenes conversations, and opportunities to paint along with me.
More recently, another lifelong fascination found its way into a book. Fur Sure: Oodles of Pet Names You've Never Considered grew out of my love for animals, words, humor, and storytelling. For years I found myself collecting unusual words and wondering, "Wouldn't that make a wonderful pet name?" Eventually those little discoveries became more than 1,200 pet names, along with stories, illustrations, quotations, and space for readers to become Pet-Name Explorers themselves.
If there's one thread that ties everything I do together, it's this:
I love discovering beauty, ideas, and little moments of delight—and then finding creative ways to share them with others. Whether I'm painting a landscape, telling the story behind a pet name, filming a walk beside a river, designing a new product, or simply noticing something that most people might pass by, I hope my work encourages others to slow down, look a little closer, and discover joy in the world around them.
Welcome. I'm glad you're here.
About My Pastel Art
Study:
2012, Webinar; Johannes Vloothuis
2011, Plein Air Workshop; Clark Mitchell
2011, Webinar; Johannes Vloothuis
2010, Oil Painting Workshop; Gary Holland
c. 2000, Oil Portrait Workshop; Stephen Sawyer
(Being a student of art is an ongoing process. We live at a time when information and instruction are so readily available, through books, DVD's, the internet and other electronic media. I take advantage of opportunities to participate in many of these on a regular basis, along with face to face instruction, as I am able. One of my current favorite instructors is Karen Margulis. I have a lot of admiration for her, not only for her beautiful pastel paintings, but for her generosity in sharing so much information online in the form of YouTube demonstrations and other social media offerings.)
Workshops and Instruction by Debbie:
Beginner Pastel Classes, Winchester, VA 3/23 - present
Youtube: #DebbieHardingPastelTapas - Demo highlights artfully woven in with video and photos of the places that inspire me
Patreon.com/DebbieHarding
Pastel Tapas classes, in studio and en plein plein air, throughout 2018-2019
Olympic Peninsula Art Association 3/2019
Beginning Pastel Workshop, Sequim, WA. 1/19/2019
Pastel Orientation and Demo, Sequim, WA. 1/5/2019
Gift-a-Pastel Workshop for adults, Debbie Harding Studio Gallery, Santa Rosa, CA 2014
Pastel Workshop for Children, Santa Rosa, CA 2013
Pastel Workshop, Rocklin, CA 2102
Pastel Workshop, Ventana Annex Gallery, Sonora, CA 2012
Pastel Workshop, Rocklin, CA 2010
Art Classes for Disabled Adults, Belden House, Santa Rosa, CA 2010 - 2014
Memberships:
Pastel Society of the West Coast, 2011 to 2022
Sebastopol Center for the Arts 2014, 2015, 2016
Sonoma County Art Trails 2014, Artist #102; 2015
Roseville Arts!, 2011, 2012, 2013
Artists' Round Table, Santa Rosa, CA 2011
Online Presence:
- Website: DebbieHardingFineArt.com
- YouTube: YouTube.com/@DebbieHardingPastelTapas
- Patreon: Patreon.com/DebbieHarding
- Etsy: DebbieHardingArt.Etsy.com
- Pinterest: Pinterest.com/DebbieHardingArt
- Facebook: Facebook.com/DebbieHardingFineArt
- Instagram: Instagram.com/DebbieHardingFineArtPastel
Press and Print:
Love Letters Live, SF Examiner.com, by Janet Gallin
"Debbie Harding: A Life Meant to Repair the World"
October 2017, PSWC USA International Open Exhibition,
Southwest Art Magazine:
-February 2014, Art of California, presented via email
-February 2014, Art of California edition
-August 2012, Pastels edition
-June 2012, Plein Air edition
"Make Your Mark"
International Online Open Juried Exhibition PSWC 2022
- 2026 Juried into the Artspan "The Enduring Beauty of Winter Scenes" Collection, "Is it Cold Out Here or Is it Just Me?"
- 2022 International Online Juried Exhibition PSWC Make Your Mark, "Reflections on Salt Creek"
- 2019 Online Membership Show, "Flurries."
- Blue Whole Gallery Guest Artist Juried Exhibition, Sequim, WA 2019
- 2018 Online Membership Show, "Garland of Grace."
- PSWC 2017 USA International Open Exhibition, "Consider the Sparrow."
- Upstairs Art Gallery, Healdsburg, CA, Artist Owner 9/16 - 12/17
- Art Trails 2015, #39
- Art Trails Preview shows 2015: Sebastopol Center for the Arts; Corrick's, Santa Rosa; Gallery One, Petaluma; Stone's Throw, Cotati
- Gallery One, Petaluma, CA, "Focus on Nature," Invitational Exhibit 2015
- Rohnert Park Library, Invitiational Art Show, 2015
- Sebastopol Center for the Arts, "Wetlands," juried show 2015
- Sonoma County Art Trails, juried open studio tour, 2014 (Preview shows at Corrick's, Ice House Gallery, and Sebastopol Center for the Arts)
- Falkirk Annual Juried Art Show 2014
- IceHouse Gallery Inaugural Art Show, Petaluma, CA 2014
- Pastel Society of the West Coast, juried Membership Show 2014
- Ironstone Vineyard, Murphy’s, CA, Spring Obsession, Juried Show 2012
- Santa Rosa International Film Festival Art Exhibit 2011
- Pastel Society of the West Coast, juried Membership Show 2010
- Roseville Arts! Art in the Garden home and Garden Tour, juried show 2010
- North Bay Art Fair, Art Show, Doubletree Hotel, April 11, 2010
- Petaluma Arts Council, Art Around Town, juried portrait show, 2010
- "First Fridays" in Santa Rosa's Railroad Square, 2009
- Montgomery Village Art Shows and Sales (Arists' Round Table), 2009
- Sonoma Bank in Oakmont, 2009
- West America Bank, Fulton Road, Santa Rosa, 2009
- West America Bank, 1st and Mendocino, Santa Rosa, 2009
Galleries, Consignments and Collections:
Current:
Spring Lake Village Retirement Community, Santa Rosa, CA: A permanent collection of 12 prints
Sutter Medical Center, Santa Rosa, CA: A permanent collection of 35 prints in the Birthing Suites
"All Things New," A mural installation at Santa Rosa Christian Church, Santa Rosa, CA (Also as a vinyl reporoduction in the baptistery of Norwalk Baptist Church, Norwalk, Maine)
Past:
Port Townsend Gallery, Port Townsend, WA
One of a Kind Art Gallery, Port Angeles, WA
Art for God Gallery, Gatlinburg, TN
Upstairs Art Gallery, Healdsburg, CA
The Ventana-Annex Gallery, Sonora, CA
Hopscotch Gifts and Gallery, Glen Ellen, CA
IQ Gallery, Rocklin, CA
Fort Ross State Historic Park, California; Showing original pastels relating to Fort Ross and Sonoma County landscape
The Red Paprika 
, 377 Healdsburg Ave., Healdsburg, CA 95448 - showing, and for sale, selected original Landscapes and Contemporary Floral; giclee prints and gifts. Ongoing
Roseville Arts Gallery Gift Shop, Roseville, CA - showing, and for sale, giclee prints. Ongoing
Glen Ellen Village ARThouse Gallery, 13758 Arnold Dr., Glen Ellen, CA 95442 - showing and for sale, selected original works from her Contemporary Floral Collection, 2011
Competitions:
American Art Awards 2015
AmericanArtAwards.com
HighlightHollywood.com
Floral Impressionism
2nd Place
Frill Factor
4th Place
Morning Blush
Floral Realism
6th Place
Grand Finale
Human Figure: Pastel/chalk/colored pencil/crayon
4th Place
Intermission
2010 International Christian Art Competition (ICAC) Winner
4th Place
Grand Finale
2009 International Christian Art Competition (ICAC) Winner
Honorable Mention
"Lupine"
(Click here to find competition winners at Art4God.com)
Sonoma County Fair Best in Medium Oil, for "Lupine" c. 2002
Sonoma County Fair First Place, for "Jordan" c. 2001
Sonoma County Fair Second Place, for "Wisteria" c. 2001
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