Canvas
“My favorite [piece]
is what I’m trying to
do. Then I’m just all
in it. Sometimes
I can finish it very
fast, and sometimes
I leave it alone and
come back to it.”
BERNICE PAUL
Continued from Page 9
She’s shown her work at several galleries,
but the most recent showcase at Rosemont
is one of her few solo shows. The prepara-
tion was a family affair: Her family helped
her buy frames, and her granddaughter and
son-in-law also made a few.

“I used to do all these things myself, but
now I can’t hit a nail straight,” she laughed.

A lot of her work has sold, too. In
recent years, Lankenau Medical Center
bought a large mural for its hallways, but
she makes sure family comes first.

“Everyone wanted to buy that one,” she
said, pointing to another landscape in her
studio, “but I said, ‘It’s my daughter’s.’
Naturally, the family goes first.”
One of Paul’s granddaughters lives with
her. In the summertime, Paul paints in the
backyard, accompanied by a spacious
private garden her granddaughter planted
full of spinach, mustard greens and lilac.

Inside, Paul’s studio remains in the
dimly lit basement of the Overbrook
house where she’s lived for more than
50 years.

She walks up and down the basement
stairs with ease, leading to an organized
clutter of loose paintbrushes, pastels,
watercolors and tubes of acrylic paint.

The room is filled with dozens of
canvases — some completed, some works
in progress. A couple larger portraits
clearly illustrate her two granddaughters.

“My favorite [piece] is what I’m trying
to do,” she said. “Then I’m just all in it.

Sometimes I can finish it very fast, and
sometimes I leave it alone and come back
to it.”
Adorning the length of the main
wall in the basement is an original adver-
tisement poster from the Philadelphia
Museum of Art from 1984, torn at
the edges, depicting a 17th-century
portrait. She found it hanging off its pole after
kids tore it down, so she brought it home
to decorate her studio.

Art adorns all of the walls in her home
in one way or another.

“There are so many phases of art. The
joy of just creating something,” she
paused. “Painting is the most satisfying
thing. You lose yourself. A book — you’re
over with it.

“There is nothing like painting.” l
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10 MAY 18, 2017
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