Florida Art Gallery to Display Original Watercolors by Ford City Artis

by Jonathan Weaver

A self-proclaimed “snowbird,” Carrol Klingensmith left Ford City before the snow began to fall for Anna Maria Island on the Gulf Coast of Florida.

Usually a scene of relaxation for senior citizens during the winter months, Klingensmith is busy preparing for nearly two dozen of her paintings are featured at the Artists’ Guild of Anna Maria Island in December.

Klingensmith, a member of the guild and painter on-and-off throughout her life, was invited to be the featured artist in March

“You need that lead time because I want to have a good variety of paintings. I actually have some at the framer right now that I have to pick up,” Klingensmith said.

Via a phone conversation last week, she described what originally led her into art.

“I painted off-and-on throughout my life – my father felt that when little girls were to be young ladies, they should learn drawing and painting. I was in classes in first grade,” Klingensmith said. “I got into oils and stained glass and the fabric arts, but I really love watercolor.”

She now teaches workshops at Camp Luterlyn in Prospect and the Armstrong County League of Arts, as well as a pair of homeschooled children in Ford City during the summer.

About a half-dozen of the paintings will feature fish – which are caught and photographed by her son from streams around the world - , but she has worked hard to vary her selections – especially for a gallery walk December 5.

“I paint a variety – I don’t want to be known as a person who paints flowers or fish,” Klingensmith said. “That pushes you.”

Artists’ Guild of Anna Maria Island Gallery President Wendell Graham has led the organization since January. She said Klingensmith has displayed her work at the gallery for more than a year, and praised her gift and personality and gift – particularly when it came to the 2011 watercolor “Elephant in Brown Madder.”

“(Klingensmith is) such a wonderful person – she’s a fantastic artist and we’re really excited to have her here at the gallery to be our December artist,” Graham said. “Very colorful.”

“You might look and say ‘Oh, there’s a picture of an elephant,’ but watercolor is a very difficult medium to work with because you’re using the pigment of the paint and the water mixture and you have to get it just right. It almost has to be seamless on the page, Graham said.

“If you can manipulate it perfectly, it’s just brilliant to see – but the slightest mistake and it’s not going to work.”

The gallery committee selects and invites one artist per the next five months – December, January, February, March and April – and will feature their artwork in the coveted front window display.

“We have several programs, and our largest is the gallery. We have approximately 150 artist guild members – some artists, some just friends of the guild,” Graham said. “Out of the members, about 51 members rent space and display their artwork there year-round.”

A watercolor, acrylic and oil painter and sculptor, Graham and her husband retired to the seven-mile long barrier island in Southwest Florida from Boston after she served as a non-commissioned officer in the Rhode Island Army National Guard and worked in human resources at Boston University. She expects 200-400 guests for the gallery walk.

“We’re a small group, but we’re a very close knit group as artists,” Graham said.

The gallery, which is kicking off its 26th season, is open from 10AM-5PM Monday through Saturday.

Klingensmith expected friends and next-door neighbors to attend the gallery next month.