Artist’s vision not so plein

When Dariela Wilson finally realized her vision as a watercolor painter, ironically it came under the tutelage of an artist most noted for his plein-air work.

Plein-air painters like Wilson’s teacher, Roger Armstrong, specialize in painting real landscapes, but Wilson had another vision she wanted to pursue.

Mermaids.

When Wilson, whose work is on display at the Newport Beach Central library until the end of the month and the Orange County Fair, retired 10 years ago she took a watercolor class after some encouragement from her friend, Lucy Burns.

“She told me I had my own style and to go with that,” Wilson said.

Wilson still did not have the hang of the vision thing, but the retired literature professor learned the ropes from Coastline College teacher Chris Sullivan and then the breakthrough came under Armstrong’s private tutelage.

“Chris gave me a good, solid beginning in watercolor, just how to put the color on the paper,” she said. “Roger showed me how to be daring with color, to just throw it out there and not be afraid of the boldness of it; to use color boldly.”

The notion of boldness triggered something within Wilson. The very idea of pursuing painting was an adventure she never thought she could embark on.

“Watercolor is often very pale. There’s not much difference in the dark and light,” she said. “My work juxtaposes colors more readily. The whole effect is more startling, not so pastel-ly.”

That boldness allowed Wilson to explore a different aspect of her work, something that veered away from the plein-air teaching of Armstrong.

“I’m quite the opposite of plein-air because everything just comes out of my head, instead of what is in front of me,” Wilson said.

Wilson looked to the past for her inspiration. She found it in a less-populated Newport Beach, the place she has called her home for the past 70 years.

The former community college instructor moved to the peninsula in Newport Beach when she was 7 years old and stayed here. Her childhood memories include a very natural background, filled with all sorts of clams, crabs, fish and the ocean’s scent.

“In those days Newport was not a city, it was out in the country,” she said.

“You were much more aware of the sea life than you are now.”

Wilson’s choice in animal life in her paintings sprouted from her childhood along the grand canal of the Balboa Peninsula. Not allowed to have any domestic pets, she began to view the wild sea creatures around her home in a different light.

“There were always crabs crawling around by our house,” she said. “I thought they could be my pets.”

Over the years the Newport sea life has changed a bit, Blue Herons and Egrets showed up on the scene and made their way into Wilson’s work more recently, she said.

Of course there were never actually mermaids, but they were there in her vision.

Mermaids have become Wilson’s representative feature in her paintings. It’s where she can most dramatically depart from the plein-air tradition.

“Mermaids were a good symbol because they always wanted to be something they weren’t and that seemed to me like me because I always want to achieve more than I thought I could,” she said.

And after 30 years teaching Spanish, French and English literature and composition at Coastline Community College she has achieved more than she thought she could -- she’s achieved a second career as a watercolor artist.

dpt-17-wilson-cw-BPhotoInfoU81T0GUF20060717j2j368ncCredit: CHRISTOPHER WAGNER / DAILY PILOT Caption: (LA)Dariela Wilson, artist, with her painting “Love Happens” at the Newport Beach Library.