- Title
- Our State
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-
- Date
- August 2007
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-
- Place
- ["North Carolina, United States"]
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Our State
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CAROLINA ARTISTS
Silver
Lining
Plcin air painter John Silver gets his
feet wet — literally — in order to
accurately capture the colors of the
coastal life that surrounds him.
1*4 daybreak. and the sly i' streaked with pink
pigments in ihc firM blush of sunlight. In IIcmIiii ’
Out. John Silsers original oil painting. .) 'leek
Hatter as sport fisher man planes tluough open wale».
Nearby,
а
small craft hobs in the wake as ihc llared bow
of «he boal parts the waier. casing ns powerful hull
through the oceans chop. This familiar Outer Banks
scene is one of Silver’e signatures, but you could also
view it as a portrait of Silver, an intrepid artist heading
into an open sea as if charting undiscovered waters.
"I iust follow my nose.” Silver says.
Mid -course in his career as a protcwional painter.
Silver, SS. looks back over his shoulder at his tentative
beginnings, turning his blue eyes away from the
horizon, for an inward glimpse into the state of his ait.
Taught by his father. Silver began to draw during hiv
youth and began painting at age 25. 1 hv wife. Sheila,
encouraged him to paint professionally.
‘She always pushed me." Silver says gently. "She
look me to the National Gallery |of An| and the
Metropolitan Museum of Art. We looked and looked
at paintings and looked at an together. She always
sa«d. ‘You have a gift.* “
He found artists w ith similar interests as his own —
American Impressionist Edward Potrhast. famed for his
New England beach scenes; watercolorist Charles Reid;
instructor Skip Lawrence; and plcin air mentor
James Kerr.
"I seek out people and hear w hat they think about
painting [and| see where I want to go with it.” Silver
viys. “You pick artists when you arc |ust starting out
whose work you admire, using their style and their
path to follow."
On the edge
Encouraged by his family and inspired by his Old
Nags Head cottage, some of Silver’s first paintings
were beach scenes of the relic beach homes and his
children playing at the waters edge.
"The reason I started painting children was because
my children were that age.” Silver says. “I got started
with the old cottages, lhat led to the beach and kids
on the beach in situations and families in situations,
and i>nc thing led to another. There were a lot of
different circumstances."
In 1994. St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church sponsored
a guest-artist residency, and the prior convinced Silver
to enroll in the painting class.
“He didn’t have enough people, and he said to me.
’Y’ou’rc kind of artsy. Why don’t you comer’ " Silver says.
Our suv Ai*sot m: