My Mother’s Art

When I was a child one of my favorite things to was to look through my mother’s scrapbooks from her childhood. It was not just the photos of her life as a child that kept me coming back to flip trough the big grey pages, but the drawings and sketches that she decorated the paper with. I always thought she had a great talent as an illustrator when I was very little.

But then she was “just a Mom.” When I got to be in about middle school she started painting. I can’t remember what the precipitating event was, but she got some oil paints and commandeered our big living room to paint in. I still remember her first painting of a door opening and a stairway. It was incredible and she did it without any instruction.

From that first canvas she was hooked on painting. So much so that when we had the big ice storm of 1972 and had no power for seven days she was so involved in a painting she was working on that she made my sisters and I go out and play in the ice covered world while tree limbs crashed to the ground covered in inches of ice.

After a while she migrated from oils to watercolors I think because her mind was so full of art that the fast paced of watercolor was the only way she could keep up. It is not just my opinion that she is a fabulous artist. A number of years ago she was encouraged by one of her galleries in South Carolina to enter juried shows. Quickly she started winning competitions and has amassed signature rights for every southern state. If you are not part of the art world that means that she could put initials after her signature saying she is a member of The Water Color Society of North Carolina, and every other southern state. She does not do that on her paintings because it would take up more space than the painting has and would look like some alphabet soup.

The Alizarin Gallery, a local Durham gallery has started to represent her. They are having a reception for a show that features my mother, Jane Carter and another artist next Thursday, October 23 from 6-8 PM. All are welcome and I will be there with my mother. The address of the gallery is 119 West Main St. suite 200 in Durham. I would love to see you there and introduce you to my Mom. If you are a regular blog reader I am sure you will find her amusing.