Beth Colville
Beth was born in New Jersey. Her family moved at least 12 times before she finished high school. When she was 12 they moved to a 200-acre dairy farm in Western Md. The artist could be found out in the middle of a hay field with sketchpad in hand sketching a thistle, a stem of timothy hay or some clover. Once she experimented with crayons and figured out that if you used an eraser after coloring an image, it would look like paint.
Beth is married to Tom Colville and they live in Evington, VA, just outside of Lynchburg.. They have been married for 36 years and have 3 sons and 7 grandchildren.
While living in West Virginia, Beth had a business hand sculpting salt dough Christmas ornaments and selling them in the northeast United States. The ornaments had a Victorian flair. Each ornament was hand sculpted, baked, then hand painted using a tiny paintbrush to get the detail in the eyes and buttons, etc. It is the fine detail that intrigues the artist.
After moving to Lynchburg, Beth took classes in various mediums and became involved in the art community.
She opened an art gallery that she ran for 2 years. The artist attributes her love for watercolor to 3 particular artists. First, Jenny Loizides who allowed her to quit watercolor several times before she grew to love it. Next, Solly Blank, who worked with her after Jenny moved to Cyprus and helped her with portraits and with color and dimension in watercolor. Next, to Rod Adams who has allowed her to paint detail in watercolor, which is where her heart is. She is currently studying with Ken Hobson. Thanks to all of you for your wonderful teaching abilities. Beth continues to take classes and in turn is teaching Watercolor classes.
After 4 years in the custom framing business, the artist has now opened a custom framing business. At first she started as a concierge framer, which means she took her samples to the customers house so they could see the samples on their walls.
The artist shows her work at several locations in the local area.
