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Rita Paradis is a signature member of the Colored Pencil Society of America. Two years in a row Rita won awards for excellence at CPSA’s international, annual juried exhibitions. She won an award in the exhibition held in 2006 in Albuquerque, NM and in 2005 she won an award in the exhibition held in Chicago, IL. and has won several awards in other national, juried shows. Memberships include, the Colored Pencil Society of America, the Connecticut Pastel Society, Connecticut Women Artists, Academic Artists Association, and she exhibits her work at the Fine Line Art Gallery in Woodbury, CT and serves on the board of directors at the gallery. Rita is now in her seventh year of teaching colored pencil techniques at Artsplace in Cheshire, Connecticut.

She earned a BA in English Literature from Concordia University in Montreal, Quebec in 1977 and went on to study printmaking at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. After receiving her BFA in 1983, she spent the summer of in Florence, Italy as a student teacher in printmaking at the Studio Arts Center International. In the past few years she has taken workshops from: Janie Gildow, Judi Betts, Ann Kullberg, Cecile Baird, Charles Solvek, Robert Carston, Frank Federico, and Koo Schadler.

In her colored pencil paintings, by using heavily applied, multi-layers of pigment, Rita achieves effects that imitate the look of photo-realism. She also works in pastels. Colored pencil paintings and pastels are held in private collections throughout the United States.

Contact information: r.paradise@hotmail.com