Artists, I truly think, are born not just trained. Ever since I was very young, especially while I was in school, I was more interested in decorating my class work papers than in learning the facts. As I grew older and started to travel, others would write in their diaries about their travels, while I would sketch out our activities as a visual reminder.

Growing up during the Depression, our family 'traveled the world' via our monthly National Geographic Magazine. My father would cut out pictures from the magazine, project them on a screen, and simultaneously read the text. Several of these 'adventures' made very deep impressions on me, such as the huge explosion of Mt. Katmai and the Valley of 10,000 Smokes and the cliff dwellings at Mesa Verde. Later on in life, we were able to visit both of these amazing places. Some of my impressions of these travels are within this exhibit. The Katmai ash was 600 feet thick and reminded us of Mt. St. Helens. Jim and I visited Mt. St. Helens a year after it erupted and I also painted on that excursion. While traveling to Mesa Verde National Park, we contacted park officials and were given permission to enter the park before and after the designated tourist hours. We were able to see and experience much more than the general public - such as the kivas with bent twig loops used to hold the weavings and the drawings of wild turkey tracks that were made to record a hunt. As we sat out under the evening sky and ate our ham sandwiches one evening. we felt the same breezes through the junipers and heard the same bird sounds as the Anasazi people must have felt and heard thousands of years ago. How lucky can anyone be!?

In 1984, when my children were grown and had left home, the 4-H clubs and other extracurricular activities were behind me, I had the time to test myself in my art. Critique from family and friends was loving, but not always useful. To help me perfect a better technique and process for my paintings, I set a goal to have my work juried into watercolor exhibitions, selected by other artists of international acclaim. My strategy worked, as I have been fortunate to have my works juried into the Watercolor Society of Oregon many times. Out of close to 3000 entries, my works have also been juried into the Arts for the Parks annual show - an exhibition that travels throughout our country's numerous National Parks. In addition, my works have been juried into numerous exhibitions conducted by the Women Artists of the West, the Idaho International Invitational Watercolor Show, the Rocky Mountain Watercolor Society and the American Society of Marine Artists.

I consider myself a narrative realist. I do not try to analyze any subject, but record what I see. And I love to share my works with others.

Merrie Holbert
Coos Art Museum
Coos Bay, Oregon
April, 2005