I began painting in watercolor about 15 years ago. For the first decade
I worked most days from early morning until dark, fueled on caffeine and
a lifetime of images finding their way out of my mind and heart onto paper.
While living in Boston during this time, I also worked with artists at
the Charles River Studio. The freedom
and excitement there seemed inspired by Henry Miller,
who advised, "Paint as you like and die happy." My paintings have been
exhibited in Boston, Cambridge, Newton, and Watertown, Massachusetts, and
are in several private collections around the United States.
I am "self-taught," having learned my craft through studying books on
painting techniques, copying the masters, and painting every day for many
years. I work small, making one brush stroke, then the next; nothing is
drawn on paper beforehand.
I have always been interested in geology, and keep hundreds of rocks
in my studio -- lava bombs;
Apache tears; crystals of pyrite, quartz, and sulfur. This interest
embraces especially the formation of layers of landscape, including those
layers under the surface of the earth. I carry a mental image ofjewels
glowing underground, our planet made of deep rings of ruby and olivine.
In this landscape, light travels to us from deep in the earth, where gems
and minerals send up their
luminous colors. It's a daily miracle to dip a brush into water and
spread these very minerals onto a sheet of paper.
For the past five years I've worked on a series of seventy-five watercolors
called "Close Nature." For me, these paintings evoke the wonder we feel
when we're walking along, look down at the ground, and realize the incredible
variety of forms and relationships that exist everywhere in the natural
world.
Rena Williams
Auburn, Alabama
August 15, 2002 |
