south santa clara valley world of art
The Next Chapter
M
organ Hill artists Jeff and
Wendy Sprague share the
all-American romance
story of boy meets girl and
they fall in love. At the age of fourteen,
these two neighbor kids met. They dated
through high school, and then parted ways
for a few years. They reunited, married and
raised a family. Today Jeff and Wendy—
now empty nesters—are on the verge of an
exciting new chapter in their lives. Here is
where that part of their story begins.
She picks up her brush. Water slowly
drips from the tip. Then she swirls it as
bits of blue pigment sweep across soft
nubby cotton paper. She pauses, thinking
for a moment. An image begins to appear
as each stroke is pulled over and over.
More colors are added, dabbled on—red,
magenta, yellow—but more importantly,
it’s what isn’t placed on the paper that gains
importance. It’s the white blank spaces—
either by accident or intent that lend to
94
watercolor’s unique characteristics.
You have to allow the paint to dance
around in little puddles until it settles
into distinct rings often ending in happy
surprises. You then add more translucent
colors that look like tiny stained glass
windows. These complex thin layers give
depth to images that can’t be replicated
with opaque paints.
This is something that draws Wendy to
watercolors. She was an artist long before
she and Jeff met, but she hasn’t always
pursued her love of painting. In fact at a
very early age she almost gave up due to a
negative experience with a teacher in the
fourth grade who criticized her work.
“I pretty much left art behind for years
and would just occasionally pick up a
drawing book and start sketching. When
my son was in seventh grade I decided to
take a watercolor class—my first. I thought
watercolor looked so fresh and lovely and
would be easier than another medium,”
G M H T O D A Y M A G A Z I N E
MARCH / APRIL 2015
Written & Photographed
By Laura Wrede
said Wendy. She soon discovered how
difficult it was to master the craft.
“I studied every Monday at University
Art under Oneida Hammond for about
nine months while my child was in school.
The following year I decided to start art
classes at West Valley College in hopes of
studying watercolor.” She went on to earn
an art degree and also taught art lessons,
but ironically never did take another water-
color class.
As a busy stay-at-home-mom, life
seemed to always get in the way of her art
in one way or the other. While she always
pursued it in some manner, she never
really did so on a professional level. That is
changing in this new chapter of her life.
Wendy started exhibiting and selling her
work a few years back when her only son
left for college. She placed her work in local
venues around Morgan Hill and Gilroy and
attended local street fairs. Her last display
was at First Street Coffee in Gilroy. Jeff, a
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