The paintings of Carolyn Blish
are a celebration of life and love. Some subjects, she says, call her
to paint them. "Sometimes the artist chooses the subject, and other
times, the subject chooses the artist. An artist visualizes a
painting in the mind's eye. No one else knows. But the artist sees
the total picture before the first brushstroke."
Blish is a former model, actress, and television newscaster who began painting in the early 1950's. Her mother recognized early on that her daughter had artistic gifts. Blish always loved to sketch painted little designs on her saddle shoes. Soon, everyone in her high school wanted similar designs on their shoes. Blish had to hire five friends to keep up with the demand as the fad she originated spread all over town. "My mother was wonderful. She even let me paint on the walls in my bedroom. She bought me paint and brushes and encourage me from the start."
Blish first began exhibiting her art nationally in 1965. A member of the prestigious American Watercolor Society, watercolor is her preferred medium because of its spontaneous quality: "In watercolors, nature follows its own course; the artist just helps it along." Children and flowers are two of her favorite subjects that just seem to go together. Both are soft and fresh, fragile and fleeting. With seascapes that beckon, bouquets that enchant, and children who radiate joy, she shares the things she loves most: "Art is about love, and my language is paint. I want to share with other people the things that I love."