Painter loves poppies
Published Wednesday, March 24, 2010 9:34 AM
By Stefan Rogenmoser
Summerville Journal Scene
Artist Renee Bruce stands in the Art Central gallery by her “Red Poppy”
painting, one of her four works used to make the 2010 Flowertown Festival
poster.
Artist Renee Bruce loves painting flowers, especially poppies. When she see poppies she immediately stops what she’s doing and starts taking photos. She then paints them with watercolors in her studio. The Summerville YMCA chose four of Bruce’s poppy paintings for the 2010 Flowertown Festival poster. Will Rizzo was hired to make the poster, combining four paintings into a field of poppies, Bruce says. “I was unbelievably happy, surprised and pleased, and still am,” she says about being chosen. Bruce says during her 25 years as a painter she’s never collaborated before. “I never saw them in a group. He saw them in a group.” Bruce, one of the 13 Art Central gallery owners, will have a booth near the tennis courts and Cuthbert Community Center during the festival. It will be near Art Central’s booth. “My family has been pressed into service,” she jokes. “I’ve been painting poppies for years.” For these particular paintings, she spotted poppies by Summerville Medical Center’s entrance, she says. She’s attracted to poppies because of “the way they stand on the stems,” Bruce says. “The flower itself is so delicate. Sometimes they look like crepe paper, very transparent. They dance. They’re top heavy and resilient. Colors are always a serious factor for me.” Bruce uses transparent watercolors on paper. “I’m just enamored of flowers. I’m never tired of them. Seeing them, painting them.” Her love of flowers makes Flowertown in the Pines a perfect fit for her style. Bruce loves seeing marshes and live oaks, which she depicts in other paintings. She’s lived in Summerville since 1972, when she was a child and her father moved with the Navy, Bruce says. “It has become home.” Bruce picked up the paintbrushes after she became a mother. “I had two young children. I needed something to do during their nap time that was adult-oriented. I didn’t paint as a child. I had a lot to learn.” She calls her style contemporary because she doesn’t draw on her memories. “What I see is what I paint. The emotion I have is almost always immediate to what I’m going to paint. I saw them. It was like a magnet. I went back to look at them. “I really enjoy this. Art helps me stay healthy and sane in an increasingly busy world.
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