Stonewall Library Exhibits Unique Watercolors Pat Magee’s Paintings Feature Themes of Greek and Roman Mythology By Candice Russell Independent Arts Writer Watercolors of a different kind are the specialty of Pat Magee. The Wilton Manors woman — retired art teacher, and life-long artist who knew her calling since age ten — has an exhibition of her paintings at the Stonewall Library and Archives in Fort Lauderdale for the month of March. Enhanced by colored pencils, Magee’s large watercolors measuring 44 inches by 37 inches deal with Greek and Roman mythology. “The central images are pre-Raphaelite and Art Nouveau,” she explains. “I wet the paper totally and float the color (usually two or three colors) on it.” When the paint is dry the next day, she studies the results before plunging ahead. “The colors tell me what I do,” says Magee. “A lot of it involves fantasy images. I go to the library and do research. I value the empty spaces as well. For a small painting I’m working on today, I saw very exotic flowers, hummingbirds and butterflies. What I enjoy is the sheer excitement of finding things.” What motivates her to put certain colors on a piece of paper? Magee says it’s an intuition that she could make a landscape or express how she feels about winter, for example. “Then you look for these things,” she says. “I can tip the paper and let the color run. I started with magentas and oranges last night. I picked up the paper and let it flow where it wanted. There’s not a lot of control in the beginning.” The unusual technique was learned by Magee at the Art Students League in New York City years ago from instructor Ethel Katz. “She taught me wet-wash watercolor painting,” she says. “I was a student of hers for quite a few years and we painted together. One time we went to see the ship Queen Elizabeth from the vantage point of a ferry boat. We were told that we could only paint there for fifteen minutes. There was a lot of pressure but I learned a great deal.” Learning the intricacies of this technique involves such things as “knowing where the paper is dry enough to add a little color,” says Magee. “It’s a learning process. There’s a book on watercolor describing the Tao technique that is a revolutionary approach. Everything in your life has to be right to do it.” The artist who once exhibited extensively in New England is getting her feet wet on the local gallery and exhibition scene. She says she’s not good at marketing herself. Like many artists, she’d rather be caught up in the creative process than the business of self-promotion. The way she paints requires a lot of research books. “I don’t want to fake an animal or a bird,” says Magee. “I don’t want someone to say, ‘She never saw a hummingbird in her life.’ “ She’s proud of a painting she did for her seven-year-old granddaughter of “an enormously large garden,” says the artist. “She calls it her television because she can make up stories about the rabbit, the cabbage and the mermaid.” A rather recent transplant to Fort Lauderdale, Magee came south from Rhode Island on the orders of a doctor who advised her, “You really need to take care of yourself in a warmer climate.” This matriarch of her family left loved ones behind for health reasons five years ago. “I sold small watercolors I made at the beach for $20 a painting,” says Magee, a diabetic who wears a brace on her leg. “While my children were missing me and still needing me, I found more of myself. In warmer weather, I swim every day. I really enjoy being here and I love the colors of Florida.” Another project for the artist, who has ideas for 500 more paintings, involves fabric design. “While other women put them together, I design seasonal banners for the Body of Christ Church in Wilton Manors,” says Magee. Coming to terms with her own lesbianism is a recent phenomenon for Magee, who is 74 and living with a partner. “I realized I was really different from the people I was straight with in New England,” she says. “I found a church here to understand me, which has been a blessing. It freed me up. I need to keep painting.” No longer did she want to hide her new-found identity from her three grown children. “I wrote a letter to them a month ago and I let our pastor read it,” says the artist. “I was told I would feel better once it was done and I do. My daughter understands but my two sons do not. I’ll wait and see what happens. People here have been very supportive. I was a good single parent. Now it’s about me.”