Biography

Eileen Fjerstad was born in Montana in 1941. Her father, a petroleum engineer whose career had the family living in various locations up and down the Rockies, eventually settled in Cody, Wyoming where Eileen graduated from high school. Fjerstad attended the University of New Mexico, graduating with an education degree, married, taught high school for 9 years. In 1972 the young family moved to Australia where they lived for 2 years. On leaving Australia they traveled with backpacks through out Southeast Asia to the Middle East. Traveling triggered the desire in Eileen to be able to capture the sights of the world through sketches and painting. However that desire was postponed on returning to Colorado as Fjerstad and her husband then became involved in a business near Purgatory Ski Resort in Southwest Colorado. Eventually after both children had moved on to college, Fjerstad rekindled her desire to paint.

In 1984 she took up watercolor professionally and began developing the craft which has become her passion.

Though largely a self-taught artist, Eileen has studied with notable artists Jack Hines, Jessica Zemskey, Joseph Shepherd, Paul Folwell, and through workshops, reading and constant study of watercolor techniques. Fjerstad continues to grow in her art, as the increasing popularity of her work attests, bringing the delights of nature in the southwest to the eye of the viewer through the brilliant softness of her watercolors.