It was inspired by an unexpected frog. Rather, a lot of unexpected frogs. Fascinated by the flowers of Hawaii, watercolor artist Lynda Raven Brake was taking pictures of the water lily ponds during her trip to Kauai’s National Tropical Botanical Garden. “I didn’t see frogs at the time, but when I developed the pictures, there were frogs everywhere,” said the Felida resident.
And those frogs showed up in her watercolor painting “Surprise in Kauai.” The painting was recently accepted to the 74th annual International Open Exhibition put on by by the Northwest Watercolor Society. From 485 entries submitted from across the world, her watercolor is one of 62 chosen for the exhibition. “I feel very honored,” she said.
The exhibition will be on display from April to June in Tacoma, with the awards ceremony and reception on April 26. While cash prizes are awarded for the top places, the society will also purchase one painting to add to its permanent collection.
“I’ve always been interested in art all my life,” Brake said, and in her 40s she had a chance to pursue an art degree at what is now Texas State University. Brake has been painting for more than 20 years. Though initially an oil painter, she fell in love with watercolors, oil’s less messy cousin.
She then earned a master’s degree in art therapy at Southwestern College in Sante Fe, N.M. “People can’t always talk about their trauma. (Art) is a safe way for them to release their emotions,” Brake said. She worked in schools with the Pueblo people. “I really do believe the process of doing art is therapeutic, especially for me personally. I’m not a nice person when I don’t do art; my husband will say, ‘I think you need to paint,’ ” she said with a laugh. She continues to take art classes at Clark College, for the camaraderie of artists and the chance to learn something new.
In New Mexico, the focus of her paintings was often the land and the Native American people with whom she worked, a subject she found meaningful and enjoys revisiting.
“Coming here (to Clark County), there are so many flowers and things I’d never seen. I’ve never painted as much green.”
Much of her recent work features an array of floral subjects. Brake unexpectedly discovered that the shadows of the Northwest played by a slightly different set of rules. She was giving a painting demonstration on how light reflects complimentary colors into an object’s shadow, something that’s easily seen in the sun of the southwest.
“Most people in the Northwest want to paint shadows in blue and gray. If it’s a yellow building, you’re going to have purple and lavenders (in the shadow),” she said. But light in the Northwest is so diffused, it made the color contrast extremely hard to see. “I never gave it a second thought that light would be different, light is light.”
To see more examples of Brake’s work, three of her paintings are on display at the Southwest Washington Watercolor Society’s Spring Exhibition at Gallery 360, 111 W. Ninth St., Vancouver. Visit gallery360.org.
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