Sherry Becker
Sherry shares
I decided I wanted to be an artist when I was a 5 years old. Fifty years later I am still working at it.
My parents nurtured my interests by providing me with classes, group and individual, whenever they were available. In high school I attended classes at the Art Academy of Cincinnati. I went to Ohio University where I received a Bachelor of Fine Arts with a Major in Education. I settled on the medium of watercolor because it always is a challenge...you never master it. The fun is letting it direct you. There is no white paint in transparent watercolor. Any white areas of the painting have to be planned ahead. The white paper adds what would be white paint and gives paintings the sparkle unique to the medium.
After putting my husband through Law School, teaching special education and art classes, I finally was able to paint full time. I have now been painting professionally for over 50 years.
All of my paintings are transparent watercolor on excellent quality acid free paper. The medium is challenging because there is no white paint. Where you see white, the white paper is exposed. Light colors are made by letting the white paper shine through. There is a limit to being able to paint over previous strokes because of the transparent paint. When wet paint touches wet paint, it runs and blurs. All these qualities while challenging are also what makes the painting have a fresh sparkling appearance. Using these uncontrollable properties to the painting's best advantage is part of the fun of the medium.
