Meet Elly
About Elly's Art
For thirty years, my work in nursing was my passion. With retirement I found time to let my soul breathe and I began to see the world for the first time as color, texture and shapes. I keep a camera with me because I’m always finding images in nature that I want to save.
Watercolor has become the new driving force in my life. Folks who saw my paintings in the early years often said that my paintings “made them smile.” That was all it took – I was hooked! A day without painting now feels like an empty day.
My paintings most often begin through the lens of my camera. I grew up on a farm and have spent many years gardening. Flowers and rural scenes seem to come out of my paintbrush with little effort. Nowadays I travel the back roads and I’ve often put my car in the ditch to capture a special moment with my camera. I will combine images to make the best statement – but I find color and texture to be the language that speaks best for me.
Friends help me behind the scenes so that I can share my paintings with the public. One carefully mats my work for me; another scans my images and does my reproductions. I have been fortunate also to have the help of a talented Georgia woodworker who builds many of my frames from fine vintage recovered wood. Heart pine, often more than 175 years old may come from a South Carolina cotton mill, wormy chestnut from an 1800's Asheville, NC home or barnwood may have originally been grown on-site where a turn of the century Hall County, Georgia barn was disassembled. I think the work of these friends adds even more "soul" to my work.
-elly
Links
Cheap Joe's www.cheapjoes.com
Georgia Watercolor Society www.georgiawatercolorsociety.org
Southern Watercolor Society www.southernwatercolorsociety.org