Landscape artist, instructor follows passion and makes life change

Get To Know Peggy Trimble

Meet Peggy Trimble.

She’s living proof that a dramatic career change can be both successful and meaningful.

“At heart, I am a landscape artist,” said Trimble, who left a corporate career in 1993 to open a custom framing company in Middletown called The Finishing Touch.

That turned out to be a wise move. The shop led her to teach matting and framing at the Middletown Arts Center and eventually to enroll in art classes.

“I believe an artist learns something of major importance from each instructor encountered,” Trimble said. “I have been fortunate to have many excellent instructors who have each left a lasting impression on my artistic style.”

In the past 12 years, Trimble has established herself as a well-known artist and teacher whose work is represented in private collections in America and abroad. She’s had one-person exhibits at the Middletown Arts Center, Miami University-Middletown, the Atrium Medical Center and at Federation Antiques and Interior Design in Cincinnati, where her art is also currently on display. Peggy’s watercolor style varies from realistic landscapes, architecturals and florals to more symbolic, multi-layered impressions.

We chatted with Trimble about the role art plays in her life.

Q: How has painting impacted your life?

A: One of the reasons I decided that I must take my first painting class was that I had spent decades in the corporate world, and I knew that another, more creative side of me existed. There simply came a time when I knew I needed to test it and see if any of my creativity could be revived.

Once I began classes, I couldn’t bear to miss one. Painting became an outlet for me and a way to recreate in my own style landscapes, florals, architecturals and places I loved. I hoped that others would love them too. To me, the things I choose to paint are beautiful things, and I want to preserve them for posterity. Once I began painting, I just soaked up all the different ideas and watercolor techniques. I really enjoy being able to create different styles of paintings and not being pigeon-holed into one always recognizable technique. But I admit people do tell me they can recognize my paintings!

Q: How do you envision a perfect day that would incorporate the arts?

A: A perfect day for the arts for me would have to incorporate pieces of each art form. It's all something you could do in Middletown in one day. In addition to the Middletown Arts Center and the Pendleton, Middletown also has a class-act Symphony, conducted by Carmon DeLeone, Middletown Lyric Theater, the Middletown Performing Arts Academy and Art Central Foundation.

Q: What’s on your “bucket list” when it comes to the arts?

A: I'm working to gain acceptance into the Ohio Watercolor Society, which is a very select group of watercolor artists. Actually, every other year, the Middletown Arts Center welcomes the traveling show from that exhibition for a month's stay. It's an extraordinary exhibit. It also hosts the American Watercolor Society's show on the opposite years. Both shows are truly a worthwhile visit for anyone with an interest in art.

My second idea is much more ethereal and improbable. I’d love to teach a workshop amid the ambiance and antiquities of Europe. My first choice would be to paint with students in the gardens of Claude Monet in Giverny, France. My husband, Jim, and I visited Monet’s home and gardens last June and decided it was the most beautiful place we had ever seen.

Q: What advice would you give to parents and grandparents regarding how to interest their children in the arts?

A: I'd love to see children begin to learn about the arts when young, when they just seem to pick things up so easily as second nature. The arts basics should be a part of early education. And it would be nice if the art and music programs were not the first to be cut when fiscal problems arise.

Q: Who are some of your favorite artists?

A: Claude Monet is obviously on my list. His paintings are magnificent.

Another favorite artist, just a bit lesser known, is impressionist Alfred Sisley. He painted during the same time as Monet, but I’ve always loved his palette of whites, off-whites and natural hues.

Andrew Wyeth has also captured my heart. The Cincinnati Art Museum held an exhibit of his work last year that was so worth seeing. It featured not only his watercolors, but the preliminary sketches and paintings for his Christina’s World series. I brought the brochure back for my students to see.

I’m also really into Rembrandt’s etchings. And Georgia O’Keefe.

Q: What inspires you as an artist?

A: I've always been inspired by the beautiful, rural countryside of Ohio and its landscape with old barns. So many are just falling down today, and I want to capture that era before we lose it.

Having spent many summer weeks on my grandmother’s and grandfather’s farm in Wisconsin during my childhood years, I have always been glad to see the large amount of farmlands still flourishing in our area. They bring back a flood of old memories — fun cousins playing together in grandmother’s yard, and the smells that emanated from her country kitchen.

My husband, Jim, and I often went on adventures we called “barning,” traveling local back country roads on long Sunday afternoon rides. Discovering interesting old barns and farms is the bonus that made the day successful, providing reference photos which become the basis of many watercolors.

As I’ve traveled and seen the beautiful old, romantic buildings of Europe, I can’t help but be drawn to painting them. Some are quiet and rural, others are just monuments to the exquisite architecture of past eras.

I’m also a gardener and the gardens and flowers are so uplifting to capture in paintings.

Q: Why do you teach?

A: I strongly feel the importance of passing down to others the techniques and knowledge of watercolor. This transition forms a fellowship between the artists of our day — not only from instructor to student, but also from student to student. It reminds me of the kinship I have read existed between the famous painters of 19th century Paris during their creative years as they painted and dined together, discussing their work and methods in the charming cafes of Paris.