"What Catches My Eye"
Bailey Phelps has painted all his life. For him, it was always personal.
His formal study started with private lessons when he was in high school and continued at East Carolina School of Art. That was interrupted when he joined the Air Force and worked as an illustrator as well as teaching art and creating work for groups and activities.
Back in civilian life he began a commercial art and graphic design business that served clients throughout Eastern NC and included Fortune 500 companies. With a new business and a family, and building his own studio and home, painting was sporadic. Yet, he painted.
He painted in oil, acrylic and watercolor. He became a signature member of both the Southern Watercolor Society and the Watercolor Society of North Carolina, where he also served on the board of directors. His work has won numerous awards and has been included in regional and traveling exhibits.
“I never know what will catch my eye…or why,” Bailey says. “The process of translating whatever is special for me into something I can share with another person, a viewer who may see something else entirely, is both exciting and challenging. A small island of trees in the middle of a field (are there tombstones hidden among them?), a brilliantly white egret on the edge of a dark swamp, the sadness of evening shadows across an old house…the same scene might evoke a memory for one of us while it creates a sense of peace or wonder for another. What is it that speaks to us?” Bailey says it never gets easier for him, but he loves the process of figuring it out.
“I hope that what I create, and art of any kind for that matter, will help us notice more, see things in new ways, help us appreciate the things around us…or just bring us a little joy.”
