PROGRAM JUNE 4, 2014 - CAROL CARTER
June’s Program was presented by Carol Carter. She has done several programs and a Workshop for GCWS. Carol is a well-known International Artist. She was named Best St. Louis Artist in 2000. She started the North American Artists Group – 5 artists from North America that go to other countries to represent North America. Her list of accomplishments is totally amazing.
The title of this program was “The Watercolor Life”. She says what she likes is the “process” of making a painting. A lot of her paintings have psychological titles, describing the feeling of the painting, or about something she is, or was, going through at the time. She told that most of her figurative paintings are of people she knows and loves. She does do self-portraits, fewer now than earlier in her career; usually doing a self-portrait every 10 years.
Carol started by showing her collection of swimmers – paintings done over the years. Her show Good Girl/Bad Girl, was all about swimmers. It was one show – two openings. She wanted to show that all good girls aren’t all good, and all bad girls aren’t all bad. The show was a success.
When the recession hit, she went to selling smaller paintings and bumped up her Marketing. While she once sold a lot of big paintings; now she sells more the size of a ¼ sheet. Florals have become a big seller for her, even though when she first started, she hardly ever painted them. As a professional she has learned to bring her style to the subject rather than let the subject dictate her style.
Carol does use photo references and draws on the watercolor paper. For small paintings, she uses 140 lb.; for large, 300 lb., Arches paper. A lot of her shows are painting groups with a theme, such as Everglades, Bubbles (fish), and she is now working on an Asian-Influence series. Her Everglades show was right after the BP oil spill. She had paintings of the pristine water and wildlife at the everglades, and some of the effects of the oil spill.
Carol has been commissioned by St. Mary’s Hospital in Jeffersonville, MO for 15 paintings to be hung in the new hospital. Crate & Barrel have bought the rights for a couple of her paintings. They print them and frame them for the store. It has become a huge marketing opportunity because they attach a profile of her and her Blog on each painting. Carol said that Social Media, such as Facebook also helps get her name out to many, many people, and it is so very important in this day and age.
As we listened to Carol, we realized the amount of work, both in the actual painting, and the necessary Marketing it takes, to become a successful professional painter. Amazing!
Notes taken by Kathy Kuyper,
Written and submitted by Joyce Grothaus, June, 2014
