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Memories...
Alicia Mayes - Gazette Lifestyle Reporter
No, he’s not Bob Timberlake. Don’t make that mistake. The scenes may look familiar,
as does the style, but the artist is unique and well worth the time spent exploring
his work.
"I refer to him as our own Bob Timberlake," said Chris Tessnear, one of the
directors at Art 1 Gallery on Franklin Blvd., describing Mooresville watercolorist
"Cotton" Ketchie. "To me that’s the best way to describe his work,
just the beautiful local scenery that you see in our area, watercolors with just
beautiful details."
True enough, like many of Timberlake’s paintings, Ketchie’s cover different rural
scenes as well as flowers and other slice-of-life type compositions. Some of this
work will be on display in "Original Art and Reproductions by ‘Cotton’ Ketchie"
at Art 1 from Nov. 4 through 24.
"I paint all over the place, I paint the coast of Maine, out west, but I like North
Carolina —it’s my home state, I was born here," Ketchie said about his art. "I
have an affinity for it and I want to save as much of it as possible. Where I live in
Mooresville is growing by leaps and bounds and I want to preserve as much of it as
possible."
Works like "Cook’s Grocery" depict these small slices of life from days quickly
vanishing. Other pieces depict popular spots along the Blue Ridge Parkway or in small
villages and towns throughout North Carolina.
Ketchie knows what he wants to paint when he sees it, and that can occur just about
anywhere, any time.
"I found a house on the way to a soccer game, with the road curving into the trees,
and I’m trying to go back and capture that with the right lighting before they tear it
down," Ketchie said.
Currently he is putting the finishing touches on a trio of new works. He has a new Cape
Hatteras Lighthouse painting called "Before the Move" and the "Linn Cove
Viaduct" that’s the fourth and final print in his fall Blue Ridge Parkway series.
There is also a gray egret painted from a wildlife refuge island in Virginia and printed
in celebration of his 20th anniversary as an artist.
Admirers of his work may be happy to celebrate his 20 years, but no one is happier about
his success and longevity as an artist than Ketchie himself.
"I don’t know what else I would do," Ketchie said.
Twenty years ago he was working for Belks Department Store as a menswear buyer.
"I would go to art shows everywhere and would tell my wife I can do that," he
said. One day she told him to shut up and do it, so he went and read books and taught
himself the basics of art.
He would be in buying meetings and draw on the cover of his order books. People would
take the covers and frame the pencil drawings. A couple of friends asked him to do specific
drawings for them and, as he says, the rest is history.
Ketchie started painting when he was 34. When the lady at the local art shop loaned him
her watercolor paints and brushes one night, he painted a picture everyone loved and he
began to think there might be something to this artist life.
Now he and his wife own and operate Landmark Galleries on Main Street in Mooresville. They
spend part of their time traveling and taking pictures. The rest of the time you can find
him there in his studio painting creating watercolor renderings of those views and talking
with customers.
"I just got back from the parkway to try and get some more (fall) pictures,"
Ketchie said.
Ketchie is generous about sharing his work. People will love the scenes in his paintings
and he’ll break out a map and tell them how to get there and what else they need to see on
the way. People will come in and say ‘Cotton I’ve found this place that yougot to go see.’
And he will.
Ketchie said he loves to drive around with his camera and take pictures that he can later
turn into watercolor paintings. To help others share in this experience, Ketchie and his
wife Vickie always write the stories behind the scenes to go along with the paintings.
"I think everybody can enjoy his work," Tessnear said, "especially if you
are local because you’ve seen those scenes, you’ve lived those scenes."
His paintings help people relive these scenes as they have the softness of watercolors,
but the crisp attention to detail often only found in oil or acrylic. They seem to shimmer
with the ripples on the water or flutter in the breeze through the trees.
"They are kind of realistic," Ketchie said. "Most of them are actual places
that people can go to and visit and experience the same things I did at that place, and
that’s what I like to do."
Make that most of the time you can experience the same things. He captures the serenity
associated with a Christmas snowfall in sharp enough details to feel the nip of the winter
wind — without actually facing the ice and snow himself. He says he does it this way as
a matter of personal safety.
"I make up my snow scenes," he laughed as he said most of his winter scenes
are views crafted from photographs of other seasons, with the snow added in. "I
don’t go out when it snows because I tend to break things. I’ll take all the leaves
off the trees and add snow on the ground when I want it to snow."
And he still manages to capture all the wonder of a winter wonderland.
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