Courtney Hunt
CAPTURING COLOR AND LIGHT ON CANVAS
story by JEANNE REYNOLDS photo by PAUL NURNBERG
It might have started with a few coloring books and a box of crayons. Make that a really big box.
“My mom was a potter,” explains Courtney Hunt. “I think she was a little disappointed neither of my older siblings showed much interest in art. But I loved coloring books. I had a huge stack of them and one of those crayon boxes with 100 colors.”
It wasn’t long before some of her early creations were displayed at a nearby grocery store that offered coloring contests for kids, with cookies as a prize. “I ate a lot of cookies,” she laughs.
Fast forward to 2023 and you’d find Courtney painting full-time in her own studio at Atelier Off Bay, alongside 13 other professional artists sharing the historic Lipsitz building on the corner of Bay and West streets in downtown Beaufort. Her colorful, light-filled impressionist canvases capture the Lowcountry’s ever-changing landscapes and wildlife, from egrets and “pond dragons” (aka alligators) to sunsets and moss-draped marshes.
A self-described “flower child,” Courtney grew up in Waynesville, North Carolina, where the Appalachian Mountains provided the ideal backdrop to cultivate her love of art and nature. She says she enjoyed escaping into the woods and treasured the solitude of drawing.
“I always liked alone time when I was little: drawing, fantasy novels, playing in the woods were all my escapes. As I got older, I went back to art. I was never able to shake it off.”
Courtney experimented for years with a wide range of arts: woodburning, knitting, tattooing, embroidery and even sketching comics. Then, 15 years ago while studying fine arts at the University of North Carolina-Asheville, she picked up canvas, some paints and a few brushes to create gifts for friends and family while living on a poor college student’s budget. The response was overwhelming, she recalls, encouraging her to dive deeper into the world of painting. Within eight years, she was painting full-time, the last two years at the Atelier.
“I always brought my visiting family and friends here because I thought it was so cool,” Courtney says. “I was painting at home when I had three pieces accepted into national juried shows, and that gave me the confidence to apply for an open studio here. I’ve always struggled with self-confidence, but having those three grand slams showed me other people (besides me and my husband) also loved my work.”
The open environment encourages visitors to stroll through, admire finished pieces and works in progress, and interact with the artists. “It was definitely a learning curve,” she admits, “but the traffic doesn’t bother me. I play music and wear headphones if I really need to focus.”
CALL OF THE WILD
Courtney’s evolution into a full-time artist followed closely after she and her husband moved to the Beaufort area in 2016 while looking for a new place to inspire their professional and personal pursuits, close to family in the mountains where they both grew up, “but not too close,” she says with a smile. And you’ve heard the next line in this story before: “We took a vacation to Beaufort and fell in love with it.”
It was a natural transition from the mountains to the sea, Courtney says. Birds are her favorite painting subject, and Beaufort has the best sunsets she’s seen. Her husband, a paleontology expert who restores fossils for museums and private collectors, enjoys blackwater diving, often finding his own treasures such as giant sharks’ teeth. The young couple recently bought their first home in Shell Point, which they share with an elderly Corgi, a Golden Retriever and a cat. Nonwork time will find them in, on or near the water — hiking in the Donnelley or Bear Island wildlife management areas, boating, fishing, swimming at the YMCA — or in the kitchen, where Courtney says she loves to cook dishes from all ethnicities or indulge her passion for baking. Their home also is filled with — no surprise — a lot of art, including a montage of treasures collected on those hiking trips, on the beach or in the mountains.
THE CREATIVE PROCESS
Courtney works primarily with a palette knife, alla prima (also called “wet-on-wet,” a technique that involves applying layers of paint on top of wet paint).
“I’m a knife painter through and through, but I rely heavily on hog bristles for things like wiry doggy locks,” she explains. “My favorite part is after the brushwork — going in with the knife for those juicy color deposits that give my paintings the glow. I like the texture to show through.”
Courtney often takes photos and notes while hiking, then uses her intuition and imagination to craft and combine unique color choices that enliven and bring vitality to her subjects.
“A lot of my painting is intuitive, not a specific thought. I’m a colorist for sure, but I don’t use it representationally — it conveys emotion or atmosphere,” she says. “I especially love working from old photographs. When they’re dull or faded, it gives me the opportunity to invent color and create mood. It reflects what I’m feeling.”
In addition to vibrant color combinations and lots of texture, many of her pieces feature a subtle halo effect around the subjects’ heads, whether human, furred or feathered.
“It’s my ode to the holy in everyone and everything,” Courtney says. “All life is important. We’re all made of the same ingredients as God. We’re all interdependent.”
A WORK IN PROGRESS
Courtney has already achieved at a young age what many artists only dream of — working full-time as a successful painter — but she says there’s still more on her palette.
“One of my huge career goals is to be in the Southeast Wildlife Exposition in Charleston. Every once in a while they let someone nontraditional slip in. One of these days that’ll be me.”
And she says she’s continuing to experiment and try new things. “Most artists who inspire me are using unusual techniques. For years, I was afraid to experiment. I was afraid of ruining a painting that’s going well. But I think it’s natural for artists to change and grow. My subject matter changes a lot, maybe too much, too soon, too quickly. I get bored. But the message is the same no matter the subject: I feel like I’m always painting lightness, trying to balance the burden of being human.”
More than anything, Courtney says she hopes her art presses people to think, feel and question.
“I hope to draw people closer to earth, to realize the life-expanding quality of respecting our interconnectedness, to pursue a greater depth in their own perceptions, to pay attention to life itself.”
SEE FOR YOURSELF
View some of Courtney’s work on her website at courtneyhuntpaints.com and on her Facebook page at facebook.com/courtney.boessel, and watch her creative process in some of her Instagram posts at instagram.com/courtneyhuntpaints. Or visit her in Studio 13 at Atelier Off Bay. Just look for the red door at 203 West Street and head up the stairs.
CREATE A TIMELESS HEIRLOOM
Portraits of loved ones aren’t just for the rich and famous. Courtney encourages requests for commissioned paintings of yourself, family members, pets, homes, gardens, vacation memories, favorite views or (almost) any subject. Learn more and submit your request and ideas at https://www.courtneyhuntpaints.com/commissions.
