Oconee library shows off its true watercolors | Online Athens

Art and science aren?t dissimilar from each other, according to Mark Willis, an area artist who made his living as an engineer.

Both practices require acute observation, the 64-year-old painter said, and engineers and scientists revel in their abilities to do so with precision.

Willis took up botanical art some years back, a form that?s true to science, he said. And he enjoyed scaling his real subjects onto canvas and portraying them accurately.

But for Willis, who in retirement has focused himself upon art, a thoughtful, emotional side also creeps into his work.

The watercolor paintings on display as part of ?26 Weeks of Watercolors,? up now at the Oconee County Library, show Willis? ?right side of (his) brain fighting with the left side of (his) brain.?

?I enjoy realistic painting. I like to be able to capture the accuracy of the subject,? Willis said of the 26 paintings featuring mostly natural and landscape subjects.

But, he adds, ?You have to have an attachment to the subject.?

Once a week for 26 weeks, Willis painted a watercolor as part of an intranet painters group in which photographs are sent to members. The photos are used to produce paintings that they share with the other painters.

Willis, who retired in 2006, moved to Athens in 2007. He said an interview with a commercial artist when he was a child turned him off to pursuing art professionally. Instead, he spent 30 years in the employ of Morton?s Salt. He took up botanical art in 2000, and completed a certificate in the field in 2007.

?I enjoy the fact that someone can recognize what I painted,? he said.

Willis? work is on display at the Oconee County Library, located at 1080 Experiment Station Road in Watkinsville. The library is open Monday through Saturday from 10 a.m. until 6 p.m.

? Follow arts and entertainment reporter Andr? Gallant on Twitter @andregallant and at www.facebook.com/GallantABH.

Source: http://onlineathens.com/local-news/2012-11-11/oconee-library-shows-its-true-watercolors

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