Sometimes the Universe conspires to bring us the people we need. I love it when that happens when I least expect it. That’s how I met local Charlotte Watercolor artist Allie Kohlbusch.

I chose to profile Allie in my monthly artist collaboration series because her work is light and soft and so lovely.  

I was sipping a cold Birdsong Beer at a “design/architecture geeks” get-together hosted by my talented friend architect, designer, builder friend Toby Witte of https://www.witteha.us/. I was chatting with a pleasant fellow about my staging. 

This get-together was held at Toby’s beautiful contemporary build that also happened to be my listing and Stella’s stage.  He was asking specifically about some of the art pieces that I had displayed.  

I explained my love of artwork and artists.  By now I am pretty used to answering questions about the art I choose. I like to think it’s because I have an eye for pieces that are worth talking about.  As is typical, I  mentioned I collect most of my staging pieces from local artists. 

The pleasant fellow’s eyes lit up as he proudly shared with me that his wife Allie is an artist. Naturally, I did what we all do when we want more information, I went straight to the internet and found her at www.alliekohlbusch.com.  Allie works in water color. I started communicating with her right away to create her first work for Stella Home.  

Allie started painting during a long term business trip to Germany. She brought her own art supplies to Europe and had lots of time to explore painting. While in Europe,  Allie was inspired by renaissance statuary, German architecture, and fabulous European gardens. 

 “I describe my style as joyfully loose. My paintings have a happy note and are abstract. I use large and sweeping brush strokes with mostly softened colors. “

Her work is available both as originals and fine art reproductions. I love how they look in my stages!

Turns out, Allie isn’t just a watercolor artist. She is also an educator.  Allie’s 2nd passion is teaching watercolor.  According to her website “Allie has introduced over 1,000 people to watercolor through her in-person classes in partnership with Skillpop and local workshops. You can now access her beginner’s class, online! “

You can contact her directly if you want to take an in-person class.  “Watercolor is intimidating, but I love demystifying the medium and making it attainable and fun for others,” she told me. 

Allie is a Mom to 2 girls and a baby boy and has been married to Tyler (the pleasant fellow) for 11 years. “As a family we try to spend more time outside than inside and you will most likely find us on a swing, by the pool, or on a bike ride.” Just one more reason to like her.

Whatever she does with her time, I just hope it continues to inspire her work so that my stages never run out of her abstract take on everything from floral bouquets to figure studies.