Judy Buswell
It’s not everyone that can take up painting at age 40 and
proceed to become one of the most popular and best-selling artists of the day. But
then, Judy Buswell is not everyone.
A nurse practitioner in her first career, Judy Buswell came
from an very artistic family. Her grandmother, in particular, was an exceptional
watercolor artist; and her mother, aunts and uncles also enjoyed a talent and
love of art. As for Judy, “I always loved working with watercolors and always knew I could
do it,” she says. “I just hadn’t taken the time to get into it before.”
Once she did get into it, Buswell jumped in with two
feet. She worked at it “day and night,” and took classes and workshops to learn
the techniques. From there, her obviously innate talent took over and after two
years of learning and experimenting with designs, she launched her own greeting
card business in 1987.
Buswell started with seven cards and four prints, and
when she wrote seven orders at her first show, she was very happy. From that humble beginning, she sold over one
million cards in just her third year in business. Today, her portfolio of
printed work now encompasses some 250 different images.
The majority of her artwork features flowers or gardens – a universally appealing theme that accounts in part for her enormous popularity.
But there is more to it than that, and for many people, the
appeal is hard to put into words; they just know that they love her art. For
some it is the vividness of her colors; for others, it’s the familiarity or
nostalgia the images evoke, and the sense that the images come straight from
the heart.
“The thing I love most about painting is the feeling that
others bring to the work – their childhoods, their dreams, their secret
places,” confides Buswell. “When people tell me that they really enjoy my
paintings, that’s when it’s the most fun to be a part of it.”
