Artist in bloom

“I am doing this exhibition, because I hope that I can inspire people who do not view themselves as artists to put themselves out there and try new things,” Ms. Witmer-Rich said.

She fell in love with watercolors while in high school and dabbled in it with some classes at Goshen College in Indiana. But her major there was chemistry, and she spent most of her time in a laboratory or behind a computer. “For ten years or so, I did not paint at all,” she said.

But then in 2012, she was inspired to pick up the watercolors again. She began to paint with watercolors and also did some set-design work for local theater. Throughout it all, she enjoyed the detail of her subject matter and enjoyed capturing it in art, Ms. Witmer-Rich said. “I just enjoy the way I can capture something in a painting. The static quality of a spectacular flower captured in time in the form of a painting is something that brings me great joy.”

Ms. Witmer-Rich, who works at Etna Products in Bainbridge, where she also resides, said she does see some aspects of her chemistry background overlap into her paintings. “I do very detailed flowers, and I think perhaps my background in chemistry allows me to see that fine detail, which is not always the way watercolors are used. As an artist, I feel that I have created a stylized-realistic watercolor expression that is uniquely my own.”

She said she saw paintings by a New Zealand-based artist, who was also a scientist, and she “was fascinated by the similarity of the detail in her paintings,” perhaps due to her also being a scientist.

On Saturday, though, it was Ms. Witmer-Rich, the artist, not the chemist, whose work was on display. A collection of 12 paintings of flowers was the centerpiece of her Bloom exhibition.

“In 2022, I challenged myself to paint about one painting a month. And those paintings are the ones that are the center of the exhibit. I had heard that the Solon Center for the Arts allowed exhibitions like mine, so I decided to give it a try.”

She said she contacted the SCA and was asked how January would work for her. “I was just excited to have a chance to share my paintings,” she said. “I am happy to have enough paintings now to have a collection.”

Several of her family members and friends were on hand to enjoy the exhibition, which included an opening reception from 7 to 8:30 p.m. Her work will be on display at the SCA Gallery through the end of the month.

One person who was in her thoughts but not at the exhibition was her favorite art instructor, Darlene Jackson, who taught at the Valley Art Center in Chagrin Falls but recently died, Ms. Witmer-Rich said. “Darlene was a wonderful teacher. She really helped me to fall in love with watercolor painting again.”

Ms. Witmer-Rich had displayed some of her artwork at the Bainbridge Library a couple years ago, but she said this exhibition is the most extensive one she has done. She said about two-thirds of her paintings will be for sale, but she also has prints or other ways for people to enjoy her artwork.

“I have some work on Redbubble, an online art marketplace that takes the work and prints it on things like mugs or other merchandise,” she said.

But mostly Ms. Witmer-Rich said she just wants people to visit the SCA gallery and enjoy the beauty of flowers, seen through the focused eye of a chemist, painter and now art exhibitor.