Japan
Carrie Waller, Abundance, watercolor, 24 x 28.
FIVE YEARS ago, when Carrie Waller moved with her family to Japan, where her husband is stationed on an active-duty assignment with the Air Force, she noticed an intriguing development in her watercolors. “Living in Japan is sensory overload with all the lights, festivals, and people,” says Waller, who instinctively began capturing the island country’s bright, sparkling energy in still-life paintings like ABUNDANCE. “This painting has a ton going on in it,” the artist says of her winning entry. “It’s everything you see here—it’s Japan wrapped up in the lights.”
Waller, who studied interior design and graphic design in college, taught herself watercolor painting nearly two decades ago with the guidance of a Reader’s Digest book on watercolors. “I never cared for working on canvas,” she says. “I do love paper, and I love living in Japan because they revere works on paper in ink and watercolor.” Lately the artist has been relishing the challenge of portraying glass teapots in works like ABUNDANCE, where illuminated bulbs glow around and through them. “I knew I wanted a bokeh background,” the artist says, using a photography term that describes out-of-focus, blurred light sources. “Whenever I’m working on a piece, I expand on the simple teapot.”
Waller photographs all her still-life arrangements outside in the sunlight. “I love the photography process as much as the painting process,” she says. “I paint really tight, so everything is planned out before I get to my paper.” In her family’s snug, 1,000-square-foot home, the artist paints at a compact card table. “We live right outside Tokyo,” she chuckles, alluding to the crowded capital’s famously tiny dwellings. “You make it work wherever you are.” Find Waller’s work at www.carriewallerfineart.com. —Kim Agricola
This story was featured in the December 2019/January 2020 issue of Southwest Art magazine. Get the Southwest Art December 2019/January 2020 print issue or digital download now–then subscribe to Southwest Art and never miss another story.
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