Class Story: Watercolorist

Patricia Harper says she doesn’t know where she got her talent. One day she started drawing and never quit.

“I don’t remember my first drawing or painting, I only remember spending all of my time with a pencil or brush in my hand when I was a kid,” she said.

            Harper is a watercolor painter from Port of Spain, Trinidad, a Caribbean island off the coast of Venezuela. She says as a young child the island itself encouraged her to keep drawing and painting, as there was always something new to find.

            “Sometimes, especially during the summer, the sky or the water would look different every day for a week,” she said.

Harper came to the United States with her parents and five older siblings in the 1970s. Though she did not have the same inspirations as she did in the sometimes-cold northeast Ohio, being the youngest meant she had a lot of time on her hands.

“Everyone else is older than me by some years, so I always had to find something to do on my own,” she said, “East Cleveland wasn’t as exciting as home, but when you’re a bored kid you have to make the most of it.”           

            Harper is now in her 50s and creates more work than ever before. She currently resides in East Cleveland, Ohio, where she takes artwork commissions aside from being a registered nurse. Most of her work is in the form of paintings, but she says she still receives commissions to create colored pencil or charcoal pieces as well.

Her career in the medical field has been especially beneficial for her commissioned work. She says two patients’ families have requested paintings of their loved ones and she is happy to oblige.

            “I just really enjoy making people smile with my work, especially for the families since they sometimes don’t have much to look forward to,” she said.

            Beginning this year, Harper says she plans to start entering her work into exhibits and galleries once again. She says working full time on with a typical nurse’s hours per week has kept her from doing so for the last 15 years.  Even before then, her participation in these galleries was only a few a year compared to the handful or more she would do in years past.

            Aside from returning to the art scene, Harper says she is also excited to begin creating artwork in other media. She says watercolor will always be her medium of choice, but the popularity of digital work has sparked her interest in recent years. Her oldest son, Tyler, is a graphic artist and opened his studio to her to begin making moves in the digital realm last spring. Now, a year later, he says she may be ready to even take on clients if time permits.

            “She learns quickly, but then again I learned everything I know from my mother anyway,” he said.

            Harper plans to show off her latest work at the Hester Street Fair this summer in East Cleveland, Ohio. She plans to bring a wide array of her work and will have several pieces up for sale as well.