KELLY COLEMAN
Many people visit Vero Beach, fall in love with it and return permanently. It is not an unfamiliar story in this town. When one finds a community as unique and special as Vero in this day and age, it’s a secret that is hard to keep and hard to forget. Such was the experience fourteen years ago for local marine artist Paul Davis and his wife, Cynthia. While visiting Vero in search of a home for a retired family member, the couple fell in love with the beachside community, the Vero Beach Museum of Art, its art club and the home that they unexpectedly purchased.
Moving to Indian River Shores from Kennebunkport, Maine, Paul and Cynthia easily settled into the quiet life of this beautiful coastal town. After a four year home remodeling job and the subsequent two hurricanes in 2004, Paul laid down his construction tools and picked back up the paint brush when he joined the Vero Beach Art Club. “After we arrived, I had to wait while I was involved in our remodeling project. But I aimed to join the group from the beginning. Joining the Vero Beach Art Club opened the door for Cynthia and me to meet hundreds of new friends that are both art club members and the people who purchase art from the artists,” shares Paul.
Davis, who initially displayed his artwork at the Fifth Avenue Gallery in Melbourne and the Backus Gallery in Ft. Pierce, now exhibits primarily in Vero Beach. Paul sold his first painting in Vero Beach at an Art By The Sea exhibition. In 2013, Paul was also awarded 2nd place at the event in the oil category for a spectacular picture of scenic Rockport Harbor, Maine.
Where did a retired school teacher with a background in electrical engineering first form a love for oil painting? What influenced his style of using muted tranquil colors and creating breathtaking art that always contains water? As an elementary school child, Paul recalls a visiting artist who taught him how to create color. “She came to visit the city kids and told us we were going to paint a forest in the fall… mixing primary and white on a piece of cardboard, I saw for the first time what I thought was magic. We made secondary colors and also learned how to change color values. After that, I never needed another lesson.”
With a full scholarship for electrical engineering, Paul attended several colleges before graduating from Franklin Technical Institute. Paul continued enrolling in various colleges for courses he enjoyed and started accumulating hundreds of college credits, eventually also earning a teaching certificate. But it was when he reenrolled in Northeastern University that the college student Paul would spend hours across the street at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts. “I would spend about the same amount of time in the museum as I did in class looking at all the Dutch Golden Age painting. I think the style that I paint now is engrained from that much observation of those paintings. I won’t use bright colors – it just doesn’t feel comfortable to do it,” reflects Paul.
Proficient and skilled on the computer, Davis searches the internet as a part of his creative process looking at thousands of pictures of boats for inspiration. “I will make a black and white print of a boat for instance and essentially use it as a model. I sketch the boat and then decide if I want a sunset or sunrise, how much cloud cover, how rough should the water be, what color pallet do I really want to use… the only reference point is the line drawing of the boat model. The rest of the painting is what comes out of my head. I look at the ocean every morning and evening – and, I have millions of pictures of the sky…they are all in my head,” reveals Paul.
Davis’ also creates each masterpiece using a technique called layering. Altering between transparent and opaque applications of pigment, he usually paints each picture using an average of 4-14 transparent layers of oil. This process establishes the luminosity of each piece which will vary in gradation and intensity. Blended edges are also a trademark of Paul’s marine art. Cynthia says he is “becoming a master of hidden edges.” Hardly ever painting people and almost always including water, Paul Davis Marine Art is distinctive, masterful, peace inducing and quietly provoking.
While Paul’s passion for painting can now occupy a good portion of his day, he is most currently partnering with Vero Beach Art Club comrades to form an outreach program for local elementary school art teachers. “The art club currently contributes materials to art teachers. But we also have so many talented artists in the art club, really talented people that can contribute their time. We want to form an outreach program to the local elementary schools to demonstrate different techniques and help children become interested in the arts” says Paul. Looking back at Paul Davis and what influenced the artist, it is not hard to imagine where this inspiration came from.
To view Paul’s work, plan to visit Paul and Cynthia at Humiston Park March 23 and April 13 from 8am to 4pm and also at the Under The Oaks Art Show in March at Riverside Park.
As the 2nd place winner of the 100% Pure Florida 2013 juried exhibition at the Fifth Avenue Art Gallery, Paul has also been selected to do a solo show in June 2014 at the Melbourne gallery.
Marine Art by Paul R. Davis is also available online at www.davismarineart.com. Paul also offers commission based services to anyone seeking custom art work. To contact Paul directly, send email to pcdavis37@bellsouth.net
The Vero Beach Art Club’s membership information, workshops, special events and artists’ profiles and gallery are available online at www.verobeachartclub.org.
Indian River Guardian 