Watercolor artist returns home to create | Lifestyle

A landscape by artist Roger Whitlock.
A landscape by artist Roger Whitlock.
Images courtesy of Roger Whitlock
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When Edmonds watercolor artist Roger Whitlock decided to leave the sunny islands of Hawaii and return home to the Pacific Northwest to paint, Hawaiians asked him, “What are you going to paint there?”

“I jokingly told them ’50 Shades of Gray Skies,’ ” Whitlock said. “But I really like (to paint with) the grays and the neutrals. And this area is just so beautiful.”

As an award-winning artist who spent 46 years living, teaching and painting in Hawaii, Whitlock grew up in Ballard. He received his bachelor’s degree from Whitman College in Walla Walla, a master’s degree in Chicago, and then taught in Ohio. He returned to the University of Washington to complete is doctorate degree, after which he taught English in Hawaii for 31 years.

It was during that time teaching that he also wrote book manuscripts, none of them ever accepted to be published. Discouraged, Whitlock signed up for a beginning painting class in 1985 at the Honolulu Academy of the Arts.

“I painted in high school and had a great art teacher (Grace Henning) at Ballard High School,” he said. “I was part of a special class of students who were talented in art and mostly I painted with oils.”

But Whitlock hadn’t picked up a paint brush in 25 years. 

“I chose to rediscover painting at age 40,” he said. “It came very naturally to me, not like writing manuscripts. With my writing I would edit myself forever. But with painting, you know if you have something within the first half-hour.”

He described his painting style as “definitely realistic and impressionistic.”

“I like the watercolor medium because it captures light,” he said. “Most my paintings are in neutral colors. Where I put color in it is very special. Watercolor is all about its freshness, transparency and quickness. It’s more about design and composition, than it is about color.”

Much of his work is landscapes, but he also paints streetscapes. Following his move back to Edmonds four years ago, he completed a series of more than 100 paintings of the Skagit Delta.

“All seasons are different there,” he said. “I’d go back each season and see more than I wanted to paint.”

Generally, he takes photographs and uses them to feed his imagination.

“I use them as a departure point,” he said. “I take them on my phone and sometimes wait weeks, months, even years before I use them. I think about them and look at them in black-and-white and color to study the light.”

He considers himself a studio painter, but this past summer he painted with a group of painters from the Northwest Watercolor Society, who met in parks where they could social distance, wear masks and paint on location.

“We met every Wednesday morning, June to October,” he said. “I really enjoyed that.”

Whitlock has taught art classes in Honolulu and Makawao, Maui, and completed teaching a five-session class on Mercer Island in early 2020. But plans to teach a second session were postponed due to the current pandemic.

He has considered teaching via Zoom, but what he likes most about teaching is the personal interaction with his students.

Painting the Pacific Northwest landscapes is far different from painting the sites in Hawaii. 

“Here it’s about seeing the clouds,” he said. “It’s very different than the landscape of Hawaii.”

A challenge came two years ago in winter when Edmonds and the area was hit with a big snowstorm.

“We were marooned, and couldn’t go anywhere,” he said. “So I took long walks and photographed the snow. I was stunned at the beauty.”

Having not painted snowscapes, Whitlock said the challenge was to learn how to use the white paper he was painting on as the snow. One of his Edmonds snowscape earned him special recognition at the Northwest Watercolor Society’s 2019 Signature Exhibition.

He also is proud of being selected to be part of the prestigious State of Hawaii Program for the Arts. The state secures art for public display from selected artists who live in Hawaii. He has seven paintings in that collection.

His favorite painting of all that he’s done “is the last one I’ve painted.”

“I do have some that I think are really good that I’ve kept for the ‘Whitman Family Collection,’’’ he added.

Whitlock admits that he goes through phases, sometimes wanting to paint landscapes and sometimes streetscapes. He feels lucky that he’s been able to travel and has painted scenes from many countries. Among those are England, Italy and Mexico.

Locally, he has painted collections of Edmonds, including local homes and architecture, Gas Works Park, Downtown Seattle, Green Lake and other Seattle Neighborhoods. They can be viewed on his website.

Whitlock and his wife have a daughter and granddaughter who live in Edmonds but, as of yet, neither have shown a desire to paint.

“That’s the one advice I would give to anyone,” Whitlock said. “People often wait to begin taking on something new until they retire. They come into their passion so late. Get started before that and you’ll have a leg up.”

Many of his paintings are available for sale on his website, www.rogerwitlock.com., and he does show his works in coffee shops in the Edmonds area. He will paint commissions and his work varies in price but average $350 for an 11-by-15-inch painting.

Most recently he has been spending time at Maxwelton Beach on Whidbey Island where he’s finding new scenes to paint.

“It’s just so quiet and beautiful there,” he said. “I feel so lucky to have this second career.”