lor World
Memoir Interludes
By
Gerry Niskern
As we pulled in behind the gallery years ago, I was overwhelmed with tremendous joy. I walked in to delight at seeing my paintings lining the walls of both rooms. The soft murmur of patrons blended with the guitar riffs provided by my son flowing pleasantly by. I had achieved a goal and I sighed with pride. I was experiencing the opening night of my own one- man- show in one of the prestigious galleries in Scottsdale, at the height of the winter season.
When I saw my first professional watercolor painting, I was hooked. I loved the medium. I signed up for a class and was dismayed to learn we were required to paint on small quarter sheets like the hobbyist uses. Not for me! I insisted on using the best handmade A’rches paper from France and always a 22 x 30 or 25 x 40 sheet. And of course, the finest paper required the best paints, Windson Newton, always.
“Watercolor is a water medium, and should have a watery look.” I heard that rule repeated many times when I attended various classes and workshops given by visiting out of state artists.
Smoothing water over the paper with a sponge to just the right degree, and then waiting to start took patience. I learned to wait for the precise point to start laying the pigment on the pristine white paper. The paint is always mixed on the paper, never on the palate! The vibrant colors mingle together as they create vibrant passages. This transparent medium takes the artist by surprise to unimagined places. I learned to go with the flow. I became a purist, vowing to save my whites and never adding another medium to my paintings. I developed my own unique methods and creations using only white paper, paint and water.
I studied every book I could find on composition and design. You see, I was determined to be juried into the Arizona Artists Guild and also the Arizona Watercolorists Association, the measure by which every artist in Arizona was judged. I achieved success with both in the same year with five different submissions for each jurying.
I painted my way up from small art festivals and juried competition to purchase awards to attending the Dallas, Long beach and finally the New York Art Exposition. At the New York Expo I sold hundreds of prints of my images to vendors here in the united States and also Europe. I loaned images to publishers who wanted to “split the run” with me.
The Expo was open to the public on the last day and the wonderful people of New York came and bought my originals; always two, it seemed. One for their apartment and one for their home upstate. We laughed about the couple who deliberated at length over an “elephant size” (25 x 60), and then contacted us when we were back home. They wanted the painting and requested we ship it to their home on Bayshore Drive in The Hamptons!
I was invited by many galleries to have one man shows in California, Colorado, Santa Fe, and other states. It was all fun and exciting but nothing compared to that grand opening night in Scottsdale, years ago.