WES IN HIS HOME STUDIO
WES GRUBE
There is a veritable art gallery in Wes Grube’s home. Nearly every wall displays his framed artwork, and the effect is nothing less than splendid. Wes is a retired engineer who moved to Florida in 1999. He’s a sailboat enthusiast and has carried on his love of water environments by working for the past 20 years with the Conservancy of Southwest Florida. He was also on the VCC Common Grounds Committee for a number of years and is now the most recent Master Board member. He’s also a regular at the Center for the Arts in Bonita Springs.
Prior to moving to Florida, he had a studio in the Art Sanctuary in Martinsville, Indiana, and artist’s colony in an old church. He now has a studio in his home on Coachhouse Lane, and it’s full of more of his work.
Wes works his artistry in dry pastel which is ground pure pigment of intense and rich color that has been combined with a binder and formed into a cylindrical stick. Typically, it’s very soft and fragile. It looks like chalk, but is actually very different. Dry pastel can be applied to paper or mat board and can be easily blended by using one’s fingers or any number of blending tools. Pastel can be applied to cover a large area quickly which is why Wes likes to work with that medium. Wes has no formal training in art. In fact, as an engineer, he was used to drawing straight lines. He originally started drawing with charcoal portrait sketches of his friends and moved to pastel in 2000. He favors landscapes but has a wide range of other subjects as well.
MARY GRACE
Painting with watercolor is one of the most difficult art techniques to master, but Mary Grace takes it all in stride and loves it. Originally from Brooklyn, NY, Mary has lived in the Villages at Country Creek since 2004 and has spent the last 34 years summering on Cape Cod. Her home is on Blacksmith Forge. She met her husband when they were in their 20s. Interestingly, when they met, she discovered that for all the years prior to their meeting, he actually had lived right around the corner. Mary is a retired nurse who worked primarily with an oncologist and an allergist.
