(bright piano music) - Watercolor, to me, is one of those mediums, it's just almost magic.

You know, when I lay down that first big wet wash on a piece of white paper, it just gives me chills, you know, and you go from there.

I found out about this watercolor artist named John Pike, who was arguably one of the best watercolor artists in America at that time.

He had a school in Woodstock, so I went up two summers and studied with John and just fell in love with watercolor.

My work really encompasses all the things I tend to be interested in, which is quite a number of subject matter.

We started going to the Caribbean, and I absolutely fell in love with the light down there.

It's just different, and I think that's affected my work probably more than anything, 'cause I do paint rather bright colors, and that came from the island.

If I had to say one thing that I absolutely am tuned into, it's the ocean and boats and seascapes and things like that.

Done lots and lots of those.

And otherwise, just things that interest me, people I've met that interest me.

That painting over there is a Honduran grandmother that I met in the ruins of Copan.

This painting is a Coptic priest in front of Lalibela, the church in Ethiopia that dates back 2,000 years.

And Willie Nelson's always been a inspiration to me.

John Cash, obviously, I got lots and lots of paintings of John.

Sitting down over there and doing a painting is better than a fifth of Jack Daniels for me.

I mean, it's tonic, you know?

It gives me the ability to just escape and feel the freedom I didn't have in the commercial field.

- [Announcer] This NPT Arts Break is made possible by the generous support of the Martha Rivers Ingram Advised Fund of the Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee and a grant from the Tennessee Arts Commission.