Made on 23rd

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Featured Artist: Gary Watson

Our featured artist this week is painter and author Gary Watson. I met Gary about four years ago at an artist meeting for Open Studios in Vancouver, WA. It turned out that Gary and his wife have many things in common with Tim and I. Love of art and travel, living as expats, and sharing our crafts with others. Here is what Gary said about his work.


All art is a gift and one that passes from generation to generation. My earliest memories are of living on a small farm on the outskirts of Bellingham, Washington and of listening to my grandmother tell stories. Six decades later, I wrote three novels between 2005 and 2016: Leaving the Bones Behind, Gabriel's Covenant and Mercy in Masquerade, now available on Amazon. However, in 2015 I set my pen aside, found a group of talented artists and began to paint. To my surprise the art forms melded. And storytelling, the fictional kind, threaded them. With an abundance of curiosity, little fear and a willingness to let intuition guide my strokes and color choices I embarked.

My artwork often presents a simple story using a limited pallet of colors, telling just enough — an entree — that hopefully leads viewers to find their own desserts. Renewal is a fresh from the pallet example: “Somewhere there’s a broken down fence on a cowboy trail near sunset where thistles still bloom and flowers grow and Monarchs pause. I’m sure of it.”

I view each piece of work as an experiment. For example, I used a water based paint combination on synthetic paper to create, Hiding from the Storm. This piece won Best in Show at a San Francisco Wildlife Conservation Spring Expo in 2017.

As a co-founder of Art for the Life of Elephants, an artist group that contributes to the ongoing struggle against the slaughter of elephants in Africa and other wildlife causes, the story told in this piece is simple and universal:  “When it’s too hard to look back and you’re too afraid to look ahead — look right beside you and I’ll be there.”

Art meets advocacy. Vancouver novelist and artist Gary Watson at his home studio prepares a 2017 show at the Second Story Gallery, above the Camas Library. Here, in an interview with Post-Record’s Kelly Moyer, he talks about the plight of African elephants and shows her how his wildlife advocacy began with the idea of "Mara," an African elephant featured in his 2016 novel, Mercy in Masquerade. (Feature article by Kelly Moyer/Post-Record)

With every mark there is the excitement of beginning a new Journey. “We will be known forever by our journey and the tracks we leave.” The secrets in art are often subtle and it’s the work of both the artist and viewer to find and share in them.

My paintings aspire, a add a touch of originality and create visual impact like the first sentence in a novel that makes the reader want more. Journey picked up a media award from the Jack Richeson Art Company at the 2019 Society of Washington Artists Spring Show.

Nine-Eleven won a 2019 category 1st place at the same show and first previewed during the opening of Vancouver’s Cave Gallery which focuses on experimental contemporary art by local artists. Its spontaneity and attempt to capture an exact moment in time on an emotional level, make this piece a personal favorite and one that begs the question: “Where were you on the day and the moment the world changed forever?”

Every story, every painting, every shape and sound (I often paint with music in the background to loosen up) has its own essence. Capturing that is the fun and perhaps, the only form of unfiltered truth we have in our complex world. Hiding in the Scraps placed 3rd in 2017 SWA Spring Show in the category of water based media: “Hiding in the scraps may be the shape of your spirit. Letting go of what others think of you is the ticket to see what you might become.”


 

My recent art shows include: 2016 and 2017 Arts of Clark County Open Studio Tours, two 2017 Spring shows sponsored by the Battleground Art Alliance in Battleground, Washington and the Society of Washington Artists Spring Show in 2017 and 2019. My art started showing in The Camas Gallery in 2017 after a show —“Art for the Life of Elephants” — at the Second Story Gallery on the Second Floor of the Camas Public Library. I have an online gallery at www.garywatsonart.com consisting of six collections and over 60 pieces and my work is represented by the Camas Gallery on 4th Avenue (Main Street) in downtown Camas, Washington where I was honored to be the February 2019 featured artist. 

You can find more of Gary’s beautiful artwork here.