“I love painting the landscape en plein air.  In the outdoors, exposed to the sun, wind and rain, you can incorporate not only what you see, but also the sounds and the smells of the landscape.  All of this lets me convey the sense of wonder I feel at the subject,” says Cople.  Undeterred by nature’s extremes, Cople has painted in blizzards in the Wasatch Mountains of Utah; on the precarious cliffs of Monhegan Island, Maine; in howling gales off the California coast; and, of course, in both summer and winter in her beloved Eastern Shore of Maryland and Potomac River in Virginia. She paints with expressive brushwork, a finely honed sense of color and powerful composition.

Both critical and commercial accolades have come Cople’s way.  She was  recognized as an “Artist to Watch” in Southwest Art Magazine (February 2006), and she has won numerous awards throughout the U.S. Her work has been placed in various law firms, banks and two paintings have graced the walls of the Ambassador to Cape Verde. In 2012, Bethanne was awarded Signature Status by the American Impressionist Society, which is a benchmark achieved by only a select few artists each year.

A personal highlight for us has been to watch Couple in action, as the inspiring, encouraging and often mesmerizing teacher who has accompanied us and our appreciative students on plein-air painting trips to Provence.  To this day, we will often quote “Copleisms” when we talk about art, paraphrasing this mentor by throwing out favorite key phrases like “alien color!”

Cople received a classical Fine Art education at The George Washington University with an emphasis on drawing and composition.