hugh mercer apothecary

Watercolor is my medium (check a recent blog post on this topic)... CREATE. Why? I have talked about how I love pen & ink with watercolor. It might not be much of "a change of pace," but it seems to be a HUGE change in style.

This idea began when the owner of Heather a Boutique in downtown Fredericksburg, Virginia, had a quick chat with me while I visited her shop. Heather wondered whether some of the iconic sites in this historic district could be the subject of some of my greeting cards.

The thought stayed in my head for months, pushed back by the strange intervention of Covid-19. Heather's shop was one of so many in Fredericksburg that needed to shut its doors in mid-March and continued to do so into the summer months. Like many shop owners, she had to devise creative ways of selling her wares remotely, by phone, email, and/or appointment. It's been very hard on the independent shops.

Now to my revelation: Why not just pick a place, take a picture, pick a pen, and start?

The result is quite striking, at least to my eye. Architecture has never been my strong suit. The curves of flowers and birds keep my arm loose, and accidents can be quickly adapted with some paint to the affected boo-boo.

The straight, bold, perspective lines of buildings and facades are unforgiving. "Oops" cannot happen with a pen or ruler. Can I do this? Yes. Yes, I can.

First came the photographs. A foray down to Fredericksburg on a lovely day gave me at least three different places to dive into. I knew well enough not to do this on a Saturday afternoon. Even during the lockdown in March and April, people were bound to be out walking their dogs along the tree-lined sidewalks.

Camera at the ready, I found parking spots (Fredericksburg is notoriously hard to park your car, and you had better beware: the local police might mark your tires and come back to boot that exact tire if you haven't moved in the allotted time frame).