Artist's Statement - Ralph F. Wilson

I've had a life-long interest in art. As the son of an art teacher, I spent many boyhood hours trekking through art museums and watching my father paint plein air. After I retired in 2012 from serving as a pastor and Internet marketing, I began to learn to paint in watercolor, studying under watercolorists Sonja Hamilton and Pat Abraham.

I find myself studying light falling on people, objects, and scenes with an interest to work out a pleasing composition. I am a representative painter, but I know that a good composition is actually made up of several abstract shapes that make it interesting. So I try understand the abstract of a composition, while creating an image that clearly recognizable, even if much of it only suggested -- a fine balance to strive for.

I love bold color, as well as rendering light and shadows with interest. I paint because I enjoy tackling the challenges that must be resolved in order to produce a pleasing work. How can I compose a painting in a unique way? How can I make it memorable? How can I simplify? How can I capture the mood? How can I allow the colors to mingle in such a way that they bring a unique beauty to the final work? Ultimately, I paint because it brings me joy, perhaps a bit of the joy our Creator must have felt when he rendered such a beautiful world.

For a number of years I have been active in WASH, a regional watercolor association allied with the Sacramento Fine Arts Center. I served as Program Chairman 2014-2018 and as president (2019-2021). A fuller bio is available online.

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