In 2004-05, Joel became the victim of two car accidents within months of one another that left him, along with other severe injuries, with only limited use of his hands. Joel’s wife Dale suggested the two of them take a watercolor painting class as an activity that they could do together, and that might help with rehabilitating Joel’s hands.
Joel told me that as it turned out,
watercolor is great as a hobby, low impact and compared to other hobbies, not to too expensive. So they signed up for a watercolor painting class offered by
Joan Archer, near their home in Edmonds, a small town 20 miles north of Seattle. Every Tuesday night then became a “date night” for them both, and
Art Therapy for Joel as they learned to paint with Watercolor. Time spent watercolor painting helped him slowly regain full use of his hands, and Joel turned the lemons that the accidents left him with into
Lemon Yellow Watercolor!
These watercolor classes lead to meeting a diverse group of professional women (mostly) who then became good friends. This “core group” of watercolor friends began painting and traveling together, and eventually they took a trip to Italy together. Joel sold his first painting, still-wet-with-paint, while on that first trip to Italy to two vacationing ladies who were watching him painting. Joel is now planning his 3rd trip to Italy with Dale and his painting group, AND learning Italian!
Joel Patience's watercolor painting: "Gelati Stop" on the cover of the DANIEL SMITH: Artists' Materials Summer 2010 Catalog
Joel used to do drafting professionally as an urban planner, and today likes to do fairly involved sketches before working with his watercolors. Joel often paints landscapes that include buildings, so this skill helps a great deal as you can see in Joel’s DS Catalog Cover painting “Gelati Stop“. This scene is from one of the beautiful Cinque Terre Villages in Italy. When he isn’t plein air painting, Joel will often do a field sketch, take photos and work on paintings later. Joel only paints from his own experiences (except for commission work) so every painting has a great memory. He sometimes enjoys including a little “funny” or visual joke in the paintings, which he calls a “divertimento” (Italian for: “amusement, entertainment, enjoyment…laugh”) in his paintings, although “Gelati Stop” is one without a divertimento.
I met with Joel last month in charming Downtown Edmonds at the Starbucks (where else!) across from the Edmonds Fountain, so we could see his work on display nearby at
Semantics Gallery which recently began representing Joel. We also strolled over to the local Coldwell Banker Real Estate office to see a large collection of his work on display for the month of April. A couple of weeks later we met again at the Seattle
DANIEL SMITH Art Supply Store after he had finished up with an interview with “
Chat with Women” Talk Radio Show. Joel has been giving multiple interviews recently sharing his story, and you can watch his very interesting
King 5 TV interview here.
It was fun meeting Joel, and hearing his inspiring story of how he has turned two tragic, life changing accidents into a wonderful new professional opportunity. Joel also told me that one of the best things is the relationships he has developed along with this new passion. I asked Joel what his favorite
DANIEL SMITH Watercolor color is, and he told me it is
Cobalt Teal Blue…a perfect color for the sunny blue skies ahead for Joel!
Grazie Joel!
Every Day, Express Yourself with ART….
~Deborah Burns
