Focusing on soft light, Barbara Brook offers memory-like micro-moments of the everyday
You began watercolor painting in 1991 after many years of oil painting; before that, you taught art to special needs children. Today you teach private art classes. Is teaching your first love, and how has teaching influenced your art and vice versa?
Barbara Brook: I guess you could say that teaching is my first love because I knew I wanted to be a teacher when I was very young. We used to play “school” in my basement, and I was always the teacher. Today, as I am doing a painting, I find myself going over the steps in my head as if I were teaching it.
RRM: How and when did you become a professional artist, and did you initially know you wanted to be an artist, or did this evolve?
BB: Being a “professional” artist was never my conscious goal. I love painting but doing a painting to sell is not my objective. I paint subjects I love, such as florals, portraits of interesting people, or a scene with the perfect lighting.
Photos I took during my travels around the US, Europe, Asia, and Great Britain helped inspire many of my paintings. Eventually, I began selling because people liked my work, and there was only so much space to hang paintings in a house.
RRM: One of the classes you teach is “Watercolor Batik on Rice Paper.” The results of this technique are pretty impressive, and it’s not something I see a lot of around here. Please talk about this style of watercolor, its difficulty, and how, when done correctly certainly hits the wow factor.
BB: Putting wax and watercolor together sounds like an unusual combination, but worked together on rice paper, they give a loose, textured look to a painting. The process of adding layers of wax alternately with color is intriguing as well as challenging. Seeing the color as the wax builds up becomes increasingly complex, but the result is fantastic. Using the batik painting style taught me to think less about color and subject matter and more about shapes and value, two factors that are usually the significant components of any successful painting.
RRM: You have won numerous awards around the country and have been selected into elite watercolor societies. What is your most cherished of all of these accolades?
BB: Anytime an artist’s artwork gets selected by the people attending the show as “Best of Show,” it is an exhilarating experience. I was fortunate to have been awarded that honor several times early in my painting career, and I can still recall the emotions today. It validated my efforts and encouraged me to continue my passion for painting.
I am a member of the Southern Watercolor Society, the Watercolor Society of North Carolina, and The Brevard Watercolor Society. As a member of the Transparent Watercolor Society of America, my most treasured achievement has to be my painting, “Tropicana,” selected for the annual competition and displayed in the Kenosha, WI Public Museum.
RRM: Talk briefly about your art classes, what you offer, your class hours, and your art experience levels.
BB: I teach watercolor classes throughout the year in my home studio. My teaching method is to demonstrate while teaching watercolor techniques and give individual attention while students repeat what has been demonstrated.
Haywood Handmade Gallery
Haywood Arts Council
Mon.-Sat. 10-5 pm • 11-4 pm Sundays
86 N. Main St., Waynesville, NC
haywoodarts.org • (828) 452-0593
Barbara Brook's art can also be found at Jeweler's Workbench in Waynesville, Ava and Arden Gift Store on Main St. in Waynesville, and the Stecoah Artisans Gallery in Stecoah, NC barbaras-watercolors.com