A quick sketch and bold strokes of color is the way this Kansas artist has been capturing landscapes and creatures for decades in the Sunflower State.
Maleta Forsberg has been sketching and painting the world around her since she was a little girl growing up in eastern Kansas. “My uncle bought me a pony before I was born and I had all the cats I wanted,” she said.
Drawn to animals at a young age, the artist who makes her home near Lindsborg says she’s been blessed with a menagerie of pets throughout her life that often find their way onto the canvas. Her treasured collie from childhood named Prince is in Forsberg’s manger scene she painted for Christmas years ago.
Silent Night; the original painting is displayed in the Courtyard Gallery.
Reggie, a wonderful companion and an inspiration for many paintings.
Boats - Stockholm Harbor
“I think with animals, you have to very patient,” she said. “Just study them for a while and they may move but they’ll be back the way they were so you have to make quick sketches with them. So that works very well.”
Maleta enjoys working in oils and acrylics but says her first love is watercolors. Her gallery is adorned with hundreds of paintings and prints for sale. “There’s no greater compliment than for someone to want to live with your artwork,” she said.
Early Snow, acrylic
In 1977 the Forsbergs converted an old school house southeast of Lindsborg into a warm and inviting art gallery. Constructed in 1885, the building was last used as a school in 1946 and is the oldest building of its kind in McPherson County remaining on its original site.
Evening Drama Prague, watercolor
Nest Watcher, watercolor
Shop the online gallery at maletaforsberg.com
