Southern California native, Carolyn Lord (1956- ) was introduced to the “California Regionalist Watercolor” tradition by James Green in the mid 1970’s while attending Principia College, in Elsah, Illinois. During college she also attended watercolor workshops with Rex Brandt, George Post, and Robert E. Wood.
Two months after college graduation in 1978, Lord had her first solo show at the Maybeck Gallery, Elsah Illinois. The following month, she began exhibiting in Carmel, California, at the Fireside Gallery alongside watercolorists Millard Sheets, Tom Hill, Tom Nicolas, and Gerald Brommer. Lord attended a two week watercolor workshop by Millard Sheets in 1979. In 1983, Millard Sheets recommended Lord’s work to his son David and daughter-in-law, Susan, who were opening the Stary-Sheets Fine Arts, Gualala, California.
Lord’s relationship with the Fireside Gallery and Stary-Sheets Gallery provided the foundation that continues in her current associations: The Thunderbird Foundation, California Watercolor, Calabi Gallery, Knowlton Gallery, Nancy Dodds Gallery, and the California Art Club.
Extensive travel in college and during Lord’s early-career capitalized on watercolor’s portability. There were road trips in California, Oregon, Nevada, Utah, and Colorado as well as international trips to Brasil, Italy, Denmark, England, US and British Virgin Islands, Mexico, and French Polynesia. Lord’s mid-career work has primarily focused on her home state of California: the landscape, architecture, and gardens.
Watercolor society shows provided opportunities to exhibit and teach workshops throughout the United States. Highlights include: National Watercolor Society; California Watercolor Association; Watercolor West; San Diego Watercolor Society; Arizona Aqueous; Oregon Watercolor Society; Rocky Mountain National; Watercolor USA; Andirondack National Exhibition of American Watercolors; Watercolor Art Society-Houston; Red River Watercolor Society, and others.
To view Carolyn’s work, click here.