Oak Point resident discovers, shares passion for painting

Oak Point resident Mary Emerson didn’t find her passion in life until after she had earned a doctorate in higher education administration and spent more than a decade teaching computer classes at Collin County Community College.

As a college professor, Emerson decided to explore a lifelong interest and take a painting class from the art department. That’s when she discovered that not only did she have a desire to paint, but she was also good at it.

Yet one of the first steps toward becoming an artist almost did not happen. As the beginning of the painting course neared, a tinge of fear almost kept Emerson out of class.

“I was afraid when I took [the painting class] that I’d be in there with my students, and that my students had probably been in art all their life,” she said. “I was so scared I went into the restroom and said a little prayer.”

Since taking the class in 2003, Emerson has won numerous awards for her watercolor paintings, which have also been featured in books and calendars. She now teaches online classes for the college part-time and spends more hours creating flowers, people, and animals on a blank canvas.

“I love the challenge, and it’s so much fun when you can look and put down the paint and it does its own thing,” Emerson said. “You never really master watercolor, but you learn how to control it to some extent. It’s a very difficult medium … because if you make a mistake you can’t paint over it.”

Emerson began her career as an artist by painting members of her family, but her portfolio has grown to include paintings of hats, chickens, commissioned pet portraits, and flowers, which she said are her favorite thing to paint.

The first painting Emerson entered into a contest won third place, and three years after she began painting she completed a collection for a one-woman show at the Red River Valley Museum in Vernon, Texas.

After completing nearly 20 paintings in less than two years for the museum collection, Emerson said she now completes about six paintings a year, depending on the complexity and size. She still enters her work in shows, although she was hesitant to do so at first.

“If people buy my art, that validates me as a painter,” Emerson said. “I didn’t want to get to the point where I was having to slide them under the bed because I have too many.”

Emerson said that she is inspired by simple objects in everyday life.

“Most of the time it’s something that I see, or I get an idea,” she said. “I’m thinking in the back of my mind, ‘This summer I want to paint asparagus.’ I get these ideas and I work on them.”

Although many paintings have sold, Emerson’s creativity is strewn across the walls of her home in Emerald Sound. Her home is her personal gallery, and it also houses the studio where she spends hours pouring out creativity through colors and brush strokes.

Emerson and her husband have lived in Oak Point for nine years. They moved into their home from Plano where they raised a son and a daughter. The couple has six grandchildren, and Emerson said that at least two of them share in her creative abilities.

Since moving to Oak Point, not only has Emerson created her own artwork but she has encouraged other nearby artists to do the same. She was a founding member of the Oak Point Art Society in 2004, and has watched the group grow from six to about 20.

In February she hopes to expand the number of painters in Oak Point and surrounding areas by holding watercolor classes at the Oak Point Community Center on Tuesdays beginning Feb. 5. The classes are for beginning and intermediate students and will run from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m.

As students progress to a more advanced stage, Emerson hopes to keep teaching beginner’s classes but also provide new opportunities for those who wish to take their skills to the next level.

“I want to take that group and do some fun things like some portraits or some really weird things that a beginner might be scared [to do],” she said. “Once I get a core group we can do some really neat things.”

The classes cost $112 for four sessions per month, and $30 for individual sessions. Seniors ages 60 and older may receive a 10 percent discount. To register, contact Emerson at 972-294-8604 or maryem@cebridge.net.

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