Watercolour artist Roy Tibbits
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Roy Tibbits in his studio working on a painting of the old McAdam NB
train station which is now being restored as a museum
train station which is now being restored as a museum
.Self-taught watercolour artist Roy Tibbits only began painting seriously in 1990 after a 30-year career in the world of commerce. Although he always had an interest in art and dabbled occasionally while in business, he says that most of his inspiration is a result of his passion for buying fine art books.
Since his first show in 1998, Tibbits’ artwork has been selected for a number of juried exhibitions by the Federation of Canadian Artists and featured twice in their publication. Fond of classic cars, he has also been recognized several times by the Automobile Journalists Association of Canada through their Art of Automobile Competition. Three of his pieces have been honoured by the Canadian Society of Painters in Watercolour.
His work can be seen at Harrison House Gallery and Fundy Gallery, both in Saint John NB, as well as at his own Goldfinch Studio Gallery in Stickney NB.
Roy, when did you start drawing?
Well, I suppose I drew some as a youngster but I always wanted to paint more than I wanted to draw. All these years later, I seldom say that I’m an artist. I call myself a painter.
What’s the difference?
Other people should decide who is an artist. You don’t become a doctor or a pipe-fitter just because you say it’s so.
And you just come by this talent of yours naturally?
When I started to get more serious about painting, I joined the Saint John Art Club. Then I got very interested in the well-known British watercolour artist Ray Campbell Smith. I studied his style closely and that helped me develop my own. Now I just try to paint what I want other people to see.
This painting that you’re working on right now… I don’t think I've ever seen the McAdam train station done from that angle although it is still very recognizable.
Yes, I photographed it at an angle from behind the switching house and as I work on the painting the view might change some more. I like to experiment with different perspectives.
You've also shown me a number of recent sketches and each has a family story behind it. What’s that all about?
In the same way that some people daydream from time to time, I work up these sketches. They’re all based on my memories of tales told when I was very young and because they’re just sketches, I don’t usually display them.
For instance?
Well this one, which I call Spearing for Salmon, is based on a story my mother used to tell. When she was growing up in the 1930s nobody had much money so, for something to do, her brothers would spear salmon up on the Monquart Stream above Bath. They had to keep an eye out for the game warden, hence my mother and her sister were often on watch. But those salmon often fed the whole family and even the livestock during the Depression.
Any words of advice for the novice artist?
Don’t try to create a masterpiece at first ─ just have fun. Especially with watercolour. It has its own life. The main thing is to practice.
I still practice. And I still struggle.
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Fall colour at the railway bridge and falls in Pembroke, just upriver from Grafton NB.
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