By KIM ESTES, Four Points News

Carol Kneisley and Carol Sue Witt both moved to Four Points four years ago and, after meeting at an art show, combined their creative energy to the benefit of local artists and art collectors.

Kneisley, an acrylic artist, and Witt, a watercolorist, oversee and instruct members of the Steiner Paint Group, an offering of the Steiner Ranch Young at Heart social network.

“Teaching beginners in watercolor allows me to share this form of expression with new artists and to recapture through their work the magic that happens when yellow, red and blue pigments blend with water on paper,” Witt said.

And for anyone with inclination to paint, Kneisley believes that acrylics can be a successful medium. “There is no ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ in technique. The expression of artwork comes from the heart,” she added.

A successful sculptor for 15 years, Kneisley has sculptures of infants formed of polymer clay in The Ontario Science Museum in Toronto and The Museum of Dolls in the Czech Republic. Her works are also in homes of collectors around the world.

Her interest in acrylic painting resumed more recently. “The supplies are easily transported, and it fits my lifestyle in retirement,” she said.

Kneisley moved to Steiner Ranch from Eugene, Oregon and her home of more 40 years to be near family. “Grandkids prompted the move… the love of Texas will make us stay,” she said.

She has a degree from San Jose State University in Early Childhood Education. However, she has always pursued art. “I have enjoyed and done art as long as I can remember. I’m mostly self-taught,” she said.

Longhorns are among her most popular paintings. “Being relatively new to Texas, I find the longhorns magnificent and challenging,” she said.

However, as a former sculptor, it is not surprising she also enjoys the human form, its skeletal and muscular shape. Thus, her acrylic portfolio is filled with paintings of the lower half of female figures clad in leg-skimming blue jeans with, occasionally, the finishing touch of a glamorous red stiletto.

“My inspirations vary,” she said. “I like things that are just a little different from the norm. I like the eye to linger over the art piece and bring a smile to the face of the observer.”

Witt, who moved from McKinney to be near family also, has been faithful to only one medium in her artistic life. “Watercolor is my preferred form of expression,” she said.

Ruminations about her craft spill out in conversation as gently as the soft, earthy tones of her paintings. “I have had the pleasure of painting and studying this incredible art for many years, since my formal training at the University of Maryland in the late ‘60s,” Witt said.

“It is still magical for me. When I painted with acrylics, I thinned it out to look sheer like watercolor.”

Inspired by everyday scenes and unique shapes, Witt’s paintings range from a pile of turtle shells to scenes from Luckenbach. “I love to share the moments I have created, especially my unique views of life in Texas,” Witt said.

Both Witt and Kneisley sell their original paintings, and Witt also offers signed reprints and fun specialty items of her work, such as puzzles, note cards and coffee mugs.

For more information about the Steiner Ranch Paint Group, contact Witt at carolsuewitt@gmail.com or (972) 529-0549 or Kneisley at cakstudios@gmail.com or (541) 554-1770.