Artist Statement
I was born to paint. As a child I spent hours on the sun-porch of my parent’s house with my paints and brushes. Dipping the tip of my watercolor brush into my pan of paints and, while barely touching the rim of the glass, I dropped the paint into the water and watched the colors flow together, down the sides and to the bottom like a magic rock garden. I was mesmerized and although I didn’t know it at the time, I was practicing what was to become my life’s passion: watercolors.
I was born in Norwich, New York and spent most of my life avoiding the pragmatics of life so I could draw and paint. In high school I designed my class yearbook cover, did illustrations for Shakespearian studies in my English class, joined the art club, and spent every available study hour in the art room. After graduation I attended business school in Binghamton, NY and studied art at night at Roberson Memorial, a cultural center for the arts and humanities. My focus at the time was portraits….. in oil.
I met and married my husband in San Antonio, TX. Later, when we moved to Houston I took my first watercolor course from the esteemed Polly Hammett. I was hooked.
In 1997 my husband took a job working at Harry and David in Medford, Oregon. I was so inspired by the beauty of the Pacific Northwest that I felt compelled to take another watercolor course. Having had so little experience with watercolors, it was like starting over; learning watercolor techniques and struggling to master the medium. While in Medford I studied under Anne Brooke, Doddie Hamilton, Ruth Shubert and Judy Morris. More recently, I have been fortunate to have studied with some of the country’s most celebrated and respected artists; Skip Lawrence, Fran Larsen, Katherine Liu, Alex Powers, and Christopher Schink in the annual ten day “Intensive Studies Seminar” in Taos, NM.
We have since moved to the Oregon Coast where I am painting full time, while taking care of four cats (two of which are squatters), our cockatoo named Daisy and my husband Charles. - Penny Simmons
