Tina Garrett

Tina Garrett is one of the most well recognized women artists in Contemporary Figurative Art. Her works center on emotion and mood, and they often contain dramatic light or atmospheric effects. Her works tend to carry with them an undefinable reverberation, haunting and laced with mystery. Being highly skilled as a Contemporary Representational artist, Tina has earned recognition as an Art Renewal Center Living Master, (ARCLM) and holds a Master Artist designation from the National Oil and Acrylic Painters' Society. In 2024, Tina has just been honored with Signature Status in the Portrait Society of America. From 2017 to 2021 Tina was a proud State Ambassador for the Portrait Society of America and she is honored to be a mentor for the PSoA Cecilia Beaux Forum Mentoring Program. 

Tina holds an Associate of Applied Science in Visual Communication from the Colorado Institute of Art Denver. She has studied intently in the Selective Start Method described in Alla Prima by Living Master Artist and author Richard Schmid, and was inducted as a Putney Painter in 2020. 

For Tina, her work is an integral part of her daily existence. “As I progress in my skills and my work becomes more widely recognized, I’ve done my best to present my work to everyone I can reach, each time risking at least an evaluation of myself and whatever I’ve presented to the world as important enough to paint. Those who don’t create might not understand just how much bravery it takes to do this over and over again. I’ll speak for myself: I love the paintings I create so deeply.  Each one comes from my soul. Yes, my soul—the part of me that is connected to the divine, God, the universe, whatever you like to call it—that’s where my paintings come from. For me, my soul is an endless well of inspiration, and no matter how my work is received, there will always be another painting that must be created. So when my work is judged, evaluated, priced, sold, awarded or rejected, my soul doesn’t care what anyone thinks, it simply must create."  Regarding her paintings, Tina feels that "There is no greater gift I can receive than another falling in love with my work so deeply that they must own it, bring my work into their hoe and make it a part of their daily lives. I truly do put so much of myself into each and every work, so loving it, giving it a home, that is the highest compliment."

Teaching is also of primary importance to Tina. She says, "I have found my bliss in teaching. It is an absolute delight when a student reaches a milestone of understanding. To have any student surpass me in my skill and success and look back and say, ‘Thank you, Tina, for all you taught me,’ that would be sublime. Because if I learned one thing from the great master of our era, Richard Schmid, it is that we do not own this information. All artists have a responsibility to pay forward what they know and assure that the next generation of artists has the tools to make great art."  Tina teaches oil painting across the US and abroad including past workshops at fine art ateliers such as the Scottsdale Artists’ School, Denver Art Students League, Village Arts of Putney, Hull Art Academy Dallas and the Women of The Arts Club Fort Worth, Oklahoma Academy of Classical Art, Atelier Protégé Alabama, The Florence Studio, Italy, Dutch Atelier of Realist Art in the Netherlands and Rosemary & Co. Brushes Workshops in Yorkshire. Tina produces and publishes her instructional oil painting videos, available at TinaGarrett.com and streaming through Fine Art Studio Online/BoldBrush. Tina is also sponsored by Rosemary & Co. Brushes, which offers the Tina Garrett Brush Set. Tina is also a proud Gamblin Colors Dedicated Workshop Instructor. In addition, since 2017, Tina provides her own monthly, paid mentorship program to artists in six countries for critiques, including painting and drawing techniques and artistic and career development.  

There is a certain transcendent quality that comes to a work of art when the soul of the artist runs deep. For anyone who has had the pleasure of meeting Tina, she is a warm, kind and optimistic person. She feels and thinks deeply about herself and the world. It is this quality that she also brings to her art. Her works are filled with a deep pathos that resonates with her viewers; one that is uplifting, but also filled with a sweet sadness, a nostalgic warmth that awakens feelings of past times filled with wonder, newness and the change that comes with each new season of life’s transitions.