For Carol Reilley’s Art Career,

Timing Has Been Everything

By Shannon Hicks

When The Society of Creative Arts of Newtown opens its 33rd Annual Juried Spring Art Show this weekend at Newtown’s library, Carol Reilley will once again be represented in the show. The Newtown artist has been a member of SCAN for a number of years and she has been painting for a few decades, but it has only been during the last seven years that Mrs Reilley has been able to devote herself to her art full-time.

It has also been during the last few years that she has been gaining more recognition for her work, and has become more involved in artists’ groups. Her latest achievements include being elected second vice president of Northeast Watercolor Society, in which she was also recently granted Signature Member status.

Mrs Reilley was also juried earlier this year into The Salmagundi Art Club in New York City as a full artist member.

According to Mrs Reilley’s Artist Statement, her focus is on “nature’s mysterious quality.” Her large-scale landscapes capture nature’s most brilliant hues, and she is able to faithfully transfer the colors she sees in the land to her canvas.

She uses watercolors and oils these days, and “translucent light and shadow is the result of many layers of glazes, in both mediums,” continues her statement. She has a style that is recognizable not only because of the media that she sticks to, but in the way the light really seems to shine from her paintings.

“It just seemed right,” Mrs Reilley said recently of her decision seven years ago to retire from her career with Ethan Allen. “I don’t know what came over me but I woke up and decided it was time –– and OK –– to make my own decisions.”

Now instead of working in an office and hoping for one good vacation away from work each year, Mrs Reilley takes winter trips to Arizona, as well as trips to Colorado, to rejuvenate her soul and capture the majesty of the West. When she is home in Newtown, Mrs Reilley works in a gorgeous studio space within the home she and husband Duane –– also an artist, a musical one –– share on Juniper Road.

It is a striking, open space that Mrs Reilley has created for herself, one that is full of light, plenty of music, and an abundance of windows. The walls are covered with large-scale landscapes, easels hold works in progress, and her desk is in there somewhere, covered with unframed paintings and miscellaneous paperwork.

She admits her studio is “a bit of a mess,” but smiles as her dog Wolfie walks around and says, “it’s just controlled clutter.

“This is the life I’ve always wanted to have, so it’s pretty cool that it’s here now,” she said, while also admitting that sometimes it is hard to continue working when the views outside her window are so inviting.

“Artists need motivation and self-discipline to avoid being swayed by what’s going on around you,” she said. Mrs Reilley also admits that going from the office world to her own artistic world felt like she was starting a life from scratch.

“It was like I was 21 years old again,” she said. “I had to relearn everything. I went from working with an assistant and a number of people under me to being on my own with only my computer. It was a real undertaking and a humbling experience.”

It called on tenacity to not give up, especially during the first few years of her retirement from the corporate world, but Mrs Reilley was also following in the footsteps of two of her immediate generational predecessors. Both her father and grandfather stopped their “first careers” at age 50 and became full-time artists.

Mrs Reilley was able to rely on the degrees she earned in design and fine art while in college, as well as the marketing, communications, and training skills that had been a focus of her previous career, in helping to establish her new career. Today Mrs Reilley offers freelance interior design, public lecturing and teaching, and does a lot of painting both for herself and by commission. She exhibits in at least 20 shows a year, but is working on prioritizing how many and in which shows she wants to participate.

Teaching and doing shows keep her busy and involved with artists everywhere.

“It gets me out of the studio from time to time, which is good,” she said. “Painting can be very lonely work.”

In addition to going into the SCAN Spring Show, Mrs Reilley’s work is currently included in “Petals and Paint,” a show coordinated by Weston Garden Club to celebrate spring. The show is at Weston Library until May 26.

Her work is regularly on view at Fine Line Art Gallery in Woodbury, a cooperative gallery of which Mrs Reilley is a member. (She has been teaching one-day watercolor workshops at Fine Line for about a year.) It is on view at Fine Framing in Georgetown and also at Star Gallery in Middletown, N.Y.

Once a year she presents a one-woman show at Fine Line Art Gallery. This is her opportunity to really present her work, and also gives the Reilleys a chance to showcase their talents together. Carol provides the artwork, Duane –– a professional musician (who offers lessons out of his own studio at the Reilley home) –– provides the music, either performing on his sax solo or with a group.

“These are a lot of work, but they are also fun. I like to think that when you’re having a show, especially the opening, you’re having a party for your work and your faithful clients,” Mrs Reilley explained. “You’re also really laying your heart out that day, especially when you have a lot of new works on view.

“With great art, good food, and music, you’re really combining all of the best elements.”

In addition to all of these public venues, Mrs Reilley also receives guests into her gallery.

“I like doing that because it allows people to see a wider variety of my paintings, where galleries usually only have six to ten images available, tops,” she said.

Mrs Reilley’s work is in corporate and private collections around the world. She also gives three paintings to nonprofit organizations every year. The groups usually auction off the works, keeping the sale proceeds for their benefit.

“For me this feels like it’s a way to give back to art organizations and charities,” she said. “It just makes me feel good, and you have to go with your instinct. It seems like the right thing to do.”

And Mrs Reilley certainly has a way of knowing when timing and circumstances are right, as the success of her art studio and design business shows.

The 33rd Annual SCAN Juried Spring Art Show will open with a reception and awards ceremony on Saturday, May 3, at C.H. Booth Library. It will remain on view during library hours until May 11 and will include more than 150 works in oil, watercolor, pastel, acrylics, graphics, printmaking, and sculpture. The public is invited to the opening reception on Saturday, which runs from 2 to 4 pm.

Mrs Reilley’s studio of art and design can by contacted by calling 426-8757.