Attending parochial school in Providence, Rhode Island, did not provide Christie Cardillo Velesig with an opportunity to study art; neither did business courses at the University of Louisville. But she would drive up College Hill to the Rhode Island School of Design to look at the sculpture and would go alone to the museums in Louisville. Later, in her first art class at Cape Cod Community College, it all came together for her. “I sat down and I started to draw. I thought, ‘My God, why didn’t I do this before?’ It came easy.”

After Christie finished taking every art class offered by Cape Cod Community College, she spent two years teaching herself watercolors and then focused on pointillism. She entered juried shows and was represented by several galleries. “Everything I was painting I was selling. If I painted all the time and nothing sold, that would be fine. I paint for myself.”

Christie has lived and painted on Cape Cod for more than thirty years. She spent the earlier part of her career painting realistic watercolors and was one of the few artists using the style known as pointillism. She found success using watercolors for her still lifes, nautical scenes and one of her trademarks, New England architecture.

Having mastered her technique in watercolors, Christie has now applied her technique to oil paintings that have wonderful, sharp lines and striking colors. Some are of a larger size and others are miniature; jewel-like both in size and coloration. Having a love of boats since childhood, it is no wonder that she specializes in marine paintings.

“My style is my personality,” she says “I’m very structured and very organized. I’ve tried to loosen up, but it’s not me.” She is recognized for her unique ability to combine both contemporary and classical style with her use of color and subject matter. Her concentration on color theory allows her to master a wonderful sense of light and distance in her paintings.

Christie has had numerous one woman and group shows in recent years and has won several awards in juried exhibitions. A popular instructor versatile in both oil and watercolor, Christie teaches plein-air workshops as well as studio painting. She has taught at Cape Cod Community College, The Cahoon Museum of American Art, the Falmouth Artists Guild, and the Cape Cod Art Association, where she is a past president, The Creative Arts Center, and the Cape Cod Guild of Fine Arts. She has served as a member of the Board of Directors at both the Cape Cod Art Association and The Cahoon Museum of American Art. She has also served as a juror for several exhibitions in New England. She is co-founder of “21 in Truro,” a group of professional women artists.

Christie’s work is featured in the permanent collections of The Cahoon Museum of American Art, Woman and Infants Hospital in Providence and at Cape Cod Hospital. Her work is also in private and corporate collections in the United States, Canada, Ireland, England and Australia.