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Immerse yourself in beautifully innocent watercolour paintings of childhood

American acclaimed artist Ali Cavanaugh has released a new body of work titled Immerse, where she embraces the fluidity and ungoverned nature of watercolours and paints beautiful portraits of childhood innocence.

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Via Creative Boom submission. All images courtesy of the artist

Via Creative Boom submission. All images courtesy of the artist

In past paintings, her subjects were often teenage women, emulating introverted emotion. Her young daughter now acts as her muse, embodying openness, honesty and forgiveness – traits that can likewise be used to characterise the temperament of the works.

These significant changes inspired an unfamiliar scale—previous work was small and intimate. Immerse is comprised of large-scale work that envelops the viewer completely. The creation of this collection, aptly named, both required that the artist immerse herself in unexplored process and subject, and in turn holds the audience captive with its imagery.

Cavanaugh studied painting at Kendall College of Art and Design and the New York Studio Residency Program in New York City, earning a BFA from Kendall College of Art and Design in 1995. At the age of 22, she co-founded an atelier – The New School Academy of Fine Art – in Grand Rapids, Michigan. She relocated to Santa Fe, New Mexico in 2000. It was during her seven years in Santa Fe that she developed her modern fresco process on kaolin clay. Her paintings have been the subject of numerous national and international solo and group exhibitions.

Cavanaugh's paintings have been featured on book covers, countless internet features such as the Huffington Post, Fine Art Connoisseur, Hi-Fructose and in numerous print publications including The New York Times Magazine, American Art Collector, American Artist Watercolor. She has painted portraits for TIME magazine and The New York Times. Her work is featured in more than 400 private and corporate collections throughout the North America, Europe, Asia, and Australia. She currently lives in St Louis, Missouri with her husband and their four children.

Watercolour portrait of a young child with pale skin and blue eyes, rendered in soft washes of green and pink tones against a light background
Watercolour portrait of a wide-eyed child with pale skin and teal-toned hair against a soft, ethereal background
Watercolour portrait of a young child with turquoise and green washes, wide-eyed expression and open mouth against a pale background
Close-up watercolour portrait of a child's face with pale skin, turquoise eyes and soft green-tinted features, with fingers visible at the edge of the composition
Two young children rendered in watercolour with soft green and teal tones, gesturing expressively against a pale background
Young child with hand raised, rendered in soft watercolour with turquoise and pale pink tones in Ali Cavanaugh's Immerse series
Young child lying in turquoise water, rendered in watercolour with soft washes of green and pale tones, looking up at the viewer with arms raised behind head
Child wearing a white hooded garment with hands clasped at chest in a soft watercolour portrait by Ali Cavanaugh
Watercolour portrait of a young child with pale skin wearing striped blue and white underwear, gazing directly forward against a soft turquoise and white background
Watercolour portrait of a young child with short blonde hair wearing a green shirt, rendered in soft turquoise and pale tones with loose, fluid brushwork
Watercolour portrait of a young child with soft washes of turquoise, pink and green paint bleeding across the face and hair against a pale background
Young child in striped dress standing among large-scale watercolour paintings of childhood portraits featuring green-toned figures from Ali Cavanaugh's Immerse series in a studio setting
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