Osprey over Lobsterville, Martha's Vineyard
Pastel on Paper
16 1/2 x 22 1/2 inches

The Old Beaver Road
Pastel on Paper
17 x 22 inches

(American, 1952)

Cindy House was born in Rhode Island in 1952, grew up in the coastal town of Bristol along Mt. Hope Bay. From the time she could first walk, she followed her mother, a natural history teacher and photographer, into the woods, fields, and along the shorelines to observe nature. She first developed an interest in wildlife art during high school while working at a local bird sanctuary. She chose to study wildlife biology, however, rather than art, while at the University of Maine, and graduated with a BS degree in Wildlife Biology in 1975. It was during her final year that the urge to express herself creatively became overwhelming and she took on an assignment to design, write and illustrate a small handbook on wildlife for the Boy Scouts of America. It was this handbook that prompted initial interest in her work.

Without formal training, Cindy House began her career by illustrating "A Guide to the Birds of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands". She has illustrated numerous books including the National Geographic Society's "Guide to the Birds of North America", "Book of North American Birds" for the Reader's Digest Association, and "A Field Guide to Warblers" in the Peterson Field Guide Series. She has exhibited numerous times at the prestigious Leigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museum's 'Birds in Art' show. Her work is included in the permanent collection of that museum along with those of Bausch & Lomb Corporation, The Rhode Island Audubon Society, and the Massachusetts Audubon Society. She is a member of the Society of Animal Artists and the Pastel Society of America. She's been given solo exhibitions at the MA Audubon Society's Visual Arts Center, Canton, MA (2009), the Butler Institute of American Art, Youngstown, OH, Cindy House ~Preserving a Moment in Time (2006); and Cooley Gallery, CT (1999 and 2010)

In the late 1980's an exhibit of the landscape paintings of William Merritt Chase at the National Gallery in Washington, DC, so inspired Cindy that she immediately enrolled in a pastel workshop. The focus of her work gradually changed from bird portraiture and illustrations in watercolor to pastel landscapes. Cindy House has since studied the works of many of the French and American Impressionists. In describing her work she feel that it is not impressionism in the true sense, but perhaps impressionism with attention to detail.

Cindy House considers the greatest gift given to her by her mother was the ability to see and observe the splendor of the natural world. She now uses that gift to express herself with pastels and occasionally oils. Her goals in painting are twofold - to depict the beauty of commonplace segments of the environment and to capture a particular moment in time. Composition is a strong motivating factor when choosing her subject matter. Cindy feels it is important to paint the landscape that she knows and understands intimately, that of New England. Likewise, her choice of avian subjects reflects the more common species found in the Northeast. When out photographing or painting the landscape, Cindy notes what birds are present at the time for possibly inclusion in her paintings later. She feels it is often impossible to separate one from the other. Cindy and her husband, Eric L. Derleth, a Wildlife Biologist for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, currently reside in New England.

BIBLIOGRAPHY : The Birds of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands , Addison- Wesley, 1982, revised Princeton University Press, 89; At Timberline, Appalachian Mountain Club, 1982; A Guide to the Birds of North America , National Geographic Society, 1983, revised '85, '99; White-tailed Deer: Ecology and Management , Wildlife Management Institute, 1984 ; Birds of Squam Lake , Squam Lake Association, 1988; Book of North American Birds , Reader's Digest Association, 1990; Field Guide to the Warblers , Houghton Mifflin Publishing Co.,1997; Modern Wildlife Painting , Pica Press and Yale University Press, 1998; Wildlife Art, Rockport Publishers, 1999; “Artists to Watch in the New Millennium,” Wildlife Art , January/February 2000. Artists to Watch in the New Millennium Gallery Tour: Cindy House, Wildlife Art, July/August 2000; Underpainting Nature, American Artist, December 2000; Nurtured by Nature, Pastel Journal, 8/2008; Birds of South Asia, illustrations by House, The Ripley Guide, Smithsonian Institution, 2005; A Guide to the Birds of North America, illustrations by House, National Geographic Society, 1832, revised 1985, 1999, 2006; Book of North American Birds, Readers Digest Association, illustrations by House, 1990 and many more.

AWARDS:
2001 - First Place and Top 100 Finalist in Landscape, Merit Award in Wildlife and Animal, The Pastel Journal, March/April; 2003 - Honorable Mention, Landscape, Pastel 100 Competition , The Pastel Journal; 2004 - Honorable Mention, Landscape, Pastel 100 Competition , The Pastel Journal; 2005 - Honorable Mention and Fourth Place, Landscape, Pastel 100 Competition , The Pastel Journal; 2006 - Fifth Place, Landscape, Pastel 100 Competition , The Pastel Journal; 2007 - People's Choice Award, 4th Birds of America , Francesca Anderson Fine Art, Lexington, MA; 2008 - Jack Richeson Award - Pastel Society of America's 37th Annual Exhibition for "Pastels Only"; 2009 – 2 Awards for Excellence, Landscape, Pastel 100 Competition, The Pastel Journal; 2009 Award for Professional Excellence from the University of Maine's Wildlife Program acknowledging professional achievements throughout one's career; 2009 silver medal, Guild of Boston Artists, Annual Regional Juried Exhibition ; 2010 , 1 st Place, Landscape, 11 th Annual Pastel 100 Competition, The Pastel Journal

Memberships : Signature Member of the Pastel Society of America, the Society of Animal Artists and Artists for Conservation; Associate Member, Guild of Boston Artists

COLLECTIONS : The Leigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museum; The Audubon Society of Rhode Island; Massachusetts Audubon Society; Bausch & Lomb, Incorporated.