Founder, CEO and President

Kevin Dan Macpherson’s intent as a painter is to capture the light that infuses every scene. He is a magician of light and shadow, but more than that, he distills the essence from each landscape, creating a finished painting that is both universal and very personal. 

A few pure paint colors, masterfully blended, turn into thousands of nuanced, impressionistic brush strokes. From a freely applied abstract foundation, a colorful representation emerges. Kevin paints fast, accurately, and intuitively, using methods that are grounded in years of academic training. His paintings are poetic, and his vocabulary is color.

Kevin Dan Macpherson is a Signature and Founding Member and first President of the Plein Air Painters of America (PAPA), a California Art Club (CAC) Master Artist, an American Impressionist Society (AIS) Master Artist, and an Oil Painters of America (OPA) Master. In addition to being an accomplished painter, Kevin is a gifted writer and published author, writing four popular books on landscape painting.  His work has been featured in more than 75 publications, books, television series, and videos. Because of his high standards, both academically and emotionally, he is regarded as a master mentor, a reputation well earned by years of teaching international workshops and giving personal guidance to many aspiring artists. He has established stimulating artistic adventures, including teaching at international venues and providing opportunities such as Chateau des Arts, En Plein Air Masters, Brush with Life and Artist’s Mentor Online, and the television series, Passport and Palette. 

In recent years, travels to Asia inspired him to shift gears in a surprising way. Kevin went to China as a landscape painter, but was so inspired by the people, places, and faces of China he immersed himself in his newly adopted land by learning a new language and painting portraits. China is so alive, so varied and fresh to his eyes and senses, it has set his passions on fire. As a result of his  energy nurturing the next generation of artists, today Kevin has established a foundation Art Ambassador for a Colorful World -- www.artambassador.org -- to bring art and joy to the underprivileged children of China and Guatemala. 

Concurrent with his work with children in these countries, Kevin has  lectured to hundreds of art and design graduate students and given demonstrations at both the School of Arts and Design, Guangzhou University and Guangxi Fine Arts University.  He has been honored to exhibit with China's, "Creative Cities" exhibition in the 2012 London Olympics. Kevin also has been guest of the Chinese Realists Painters of China to explore and paint in the province of Xinjiang, culminating in an impressive exhibition, "Affection of the Motherland" that has traveled to the major museums in Shanghai, Beijing, Urumqi, Hong Kong, and beyond. This year Guanxi Fine Arts Publishing will release his new book "Light, Atmosphere and Color" in Mandarin.

Vice President

Lori Putnam grew up in the Tennessee countryside. With no neighbors for miles, she credits her vision and creative spirit to those many hours spent entertaining herself as a young child. Her spark for drawing and painting began early, but her development as an artist was not realized until much later. At age 35 she began the journey to what has become a life-long commitment to art. The feel of oil paint ignited her love affair with the medium and she knew there was no turning back.

Prior to becoming a full-time, fine artist in 2005, Putnam owned a successful graphic design business for 13 years. In 2008 and 2009, she and her husband Mark sold their home and belongings and traveled to the Italian countryside. The sole purpose was personal study and artistic experimentation. The concentrated work accomplished during that 7-month period culminated in an impressive breakthrough. While she considers herself primarily self-taught, the advice and support of Scott Christensen, Quang Ho, and Dawn Whitelaw have been key to the artist's development and success.

No stranger to hard work and dedication her career has soared. Featured in numerous issues of major magazines, Putnam is now recognized as one of the finest American Impressionists of our time. She served as an Artist Faculty Demonstrator for the Annual Plein Air Convention for six years and has been keynote speaker and guest lecturer at many other notable events in the U.S. and abroad. Her sold-out workshops are a testament to her teaching style and her gratitude to those who taught and nurtured her.

Lori has exhibited with many respected organizations including but not limited to the Salmagundi Club in New York City, the Oil Painters of America, Laguna Plein air Painters Association, the California Art Club, and the American Impressionists Society. Additionally, both Lori’s plein air and studio paintings have received awards too numerous to count. Some of her more recent accolades have come from the Salmagundi Club in New York City, the Portrait Society of America, The American Impressionist's Society, the Oil Painters of America, All Along the Sierra Exhibition, National Oil and Acrylic Painters Society, and the Forgotten Coast Plein Air Invitational.

Museums have also honored and acknowledged Putnam’s work. Either through awards, exhibitions, or invitations to lecture, The Tucson Museum of Art, the High Museum in Atlanta, the Irvine Museum in California, The Hockaday Museum in Montana, The Brinton Museum in Wyoming, the Booth Western Art Museum in Cartersville are just a few in a continually growing list. She has work in the permanent collection at The Academy Art Museum in Easton, Maryland, the collection of Plein Air Magazine, the University of California-Irvine Museum, and in private and corporate collections, and galleries worldwide. When not traveling to paint, teach, or lecture, Putnam works in her studio in Charlotte, Tennessee.

Joining Art Ambassador for a Colorful World in 2018, Lori Putnam is involved working with children to bring joy, healing, and love—changing our world for the better through artful service.

Director, Past President

Jack is a graduate of the Chicago Academy of Fine Arts. He also attended the Art Students League of New York. While there, he studied with several masters in fine art, editorial illustration, watercolor, and calligraphy. During the Vietnam conflict, Jack was drafted into the U. S. Army. Following basic training, he was assigned to the 4th Army Training Aids Center in El Paso, Texas as an illustrator. He returned to Chicago where he began a 48-year career in consumer branding, and corporate strategy development and design. He was fortunate to have traveled extensively to distant capitols of the world. 

Although the world of creativity in art and design was an integral part of his job, when he retired from professional life, he renewed his love for painting and became passionately involved in the plein air painting. It was during this renaissance that he met and became a close friend of Kevin and Wanda Macpherson. Kevin asked, “Why do you paint? Jack responded, “I paint for the shear enjoyment of the process, the delightful accidents that can happen, the pleasures of the outcome, and the sensorial experience of painting en plein air.”

Jack is a member of the Connecticut Plein Air Painters Society. He and his wife live in Stamford, Connecticut.

“I am delighted that all of our Board Members share my enthusiasm for the future and enormous opportunities before us with Art Ambassador For A Colorful World. Kevin Macpherson has already done a marvelous job in China and Guatemala, which is paving the way to launch our organization in other needy areas around the world. The future is bright and we all are committed to seeing continued success wherever we travel.”

Secretary and Treasurer

A career in art was far from her mind when Wanda graduated from college with a degree in business. However, her creative side has triumphed through a long and happy collaboration with Kevin Macpherson, husband, partner, and renowned painter. Wanda has studied at the Scottsdale Artists’ School with some of the country’s best artists, and years of side-by-side instruction with Kevin have given her an artistic foundation to explore her own path. She has developed a delicate impressionistic technique and sensitive color harmonies through the keen observation of techniques learned while painting en plein air. 

Wanda works in oils, painting on location throughout the United States and Europe. She is a member of the American Impressionist Society winning the “Oil Painting” award in 2000. Additionally, her paintings and technique were selected to be included in the book, “Painting With Water Soluble Oils”, currently available through Northlight Publishing. Wanda has been invited to participate in shows such as: the Plein Air Arizona – Arizona Desert Museum; American Impressionists Society; From Colorado Springs to Taos: Springs Invites Taos Best; Montgomery Museum of Art; and the Best and the Brightest of the Scottsdale Artist’s School. Her paintings have been featured in Taos Magazine, U. S. Art, and Southwest Art.  

In addition to painting, her handcrafted jewelry blends sculpture and unique worldly findings to create one-of-a-kind treasures.

Wanda and Kevin have mentored painting techniques in the United States and abroad bringing their students to Italy, Greece, Turkey, France, Iceland, Norway, Spain, Mexico, New Zealand, China, and Belgium. They love sharing their artistic experiences. She has worked behind the scenes with her video camera filming the series, “Passport and Palette,” for Public Television (PBS).

Wanda is certainly bitten with ‘wanderlust’ and can be seen painting en plein air almost anywhere in the world with husband Kevin.

"All Artists are Children. I am delighted to be a part of Art Ambassador For A Colorful World. This makes me so happy to see Kevin working with the children. He always has a smile on his face and I enjoy helping on these fulfilling special projects."

Director

After almost twenty years in the field of philanthropy running a community foundation and five owning and operating an independent bookstore, I turned back to an early love, art.   Since 2006, I've been trying to see deeper and more thoughtfully into the landscapes that present themselves as I move and travel about the country.  I've been fortunate to live and work in South Carolina, Texas, Maine, Montana and now Colorado as well as travel throughout North America and Europe.  Beauty captures me - beauty in the every day and in the awe inspiring; and I see the relationships of colors, of angles and design.  It is truly a life's work to try to capture how I feel when I encounter the wonders of this world.  To paraphrase E.B. White:  I used to wake up wanting to save the world, now I wake up and want to savor it.

"Growing up as an army brat, I loved being able to move around the world.  Part of the fascination was that people, however different they might seem culturally, have so many commonalities.  I love that Kevin and Art Ambassador for a Colorful World is using art to build cross-cultural relationships.  I am pleased to be able to offer nonprofit management experience to my work on the board."

Director

Ruth is a graduate of Boston University where she majored in English and fine arts.  She has taken art classes at Montgomery College and painting workshops throughout the country over the past 30 years.  After graduating from college, Ruth worked as a writer for the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, MD.  She took a career break after her marriage and her three children were born.  When her daughters were in high school, she worked for 13 years as a feature writer for the Montgomery County Gazette Newspapers (a subsidiary of the Washington Post). At the same time, she was a freelance feature writer for both local and national magazines.  Since the early 1990s, she has been a contributing writer and editor to various publications for the American Society for Training and Development (recently changed to Association for Talent Development-ATD).  Currently, she is editor of ATD’s Learning Executive Briefing.  

Concurrent with her writing career, Ruth has tried every form of art she could find including: painting, printmaking (monotypes, etchings), and sculpture (stone, wood and clay).  She is an avid plein air painter and is a member of Plein Air Palm Beach and the Florida Plein Air Painters.

“I am thrilled to be a board member of Art Ambassador for a Colorful World.  The first class I took with Kevin in June 2014 opened up a world of opportunity for me to extend my love for both art and writing to those children Kevin is reaching in China and Guatemala.  I look forward to contribute to the future success of this marvelous organization."

Director

Artist and photographer with a lifelong love of travel, Cindy grew up in Phoenix, Arizona, then spent the last 30 years in Southern California, before recently moving to Taos, New Mexico.

A former travel agent and facility manager, Cindy has experience in computer graphics and graphic design and received a Professional Designation in Computer Graphics from UCLA Extension.

Since retiring from Time Inc. in 2010 after 24 years, she has concentrated on painting, photography and piano, and has traveled as a photographer and videographer with the Passport & Palette documentary television series. She has studied painting extensively since retirement, taking classes at California Art Institute, Scottsdale Artists School, Los Angeles Academy of Figurative Art, and various plein air workshops around the world.

"I’m excited to be a part of Art Ambassador for a Colorful World, and believe deeply in its mission to bring quality art instruction, mentoring and scholarships to children in parts of the world where such opportunities are rare. Art has the power to change the way a person perceives and interacts with the world, and to transform the lives of those who seriously study and engage in it."

Designer of our Butterfly Logo

Tianye is the designer of our beautiful butterfly logo. She is 5 years old, speaks four languages, and plays Rachmaninoff on the piano.

Art Ambassador for a Colorful World is grateful for the cooperation of these wonderful organizations.