Joel W Carlson

Carlson, a resident of Manoa Valley in Honolulu, Hawaii spent his childhood in Minnesota and Idaho before moving to Hawaii in 1983. His father, an avid bird watcher and nature lover, often took him on nature hikes and bird watching. This helped shape his love of nature and choice of subject matter in his art.

Ever since he was a child, growing up in cold U.S. Mainland climates, he remembers being fascinated by and drawn to the tropics. His artistic specialty is tropical paintings done in watercolor, which is often enhanced by an airbrushed sky and sea to give the paintings a soft, surreal or dreamlike quality.

Carlson leans towards a tight, realistic style in his watercolors, as he works mostly from live plants, which are used as models for a close-up look at details. In making his paintings realistic, he deliberately includes the flaws that would be seen in nature. He says, I dont want perfection, so if I see leaves which have been eaten by bugs, or which are starting to turn yellow or brown, I will paint them that way.

Most artists think through and sketch out a painting before they begin to paint. Since Carlson most often works from live plants, this is not possible. An entire plant or bird may be completely...

B.A. in Advertising Design at Boise State University, Idaho, USA.

* Poster advertising the Royal Hawaiian Band performance at Carnegie Hall, New York
* Illustrations for Hawaii Visitors Bureau Magazine
* Three watercolors for QANTAS Airlines first class lounge in Cairns, Australia
* Award of Excellence from the American Institute of Graphic Arts (AIGA) for package illustration
* Award of Excellence from Print magazine for package illustration
* Exhibitions with the Hawaii Watercolor Society, Audubon Society, and Pauahi Tower
* Series of six native Hawaiian bird watercolors published by Island Heritage of Honolulu
* Fine art watercolors purchased by Bank of Hawaii, Kauai Marriott Hotel, and Kahala Mandarin Oriental Hotel
* Set of four tropical theme phone cards for Mauna Loa Macadamia Nut Corp.
* Aloha Airlines Playing cards for first class passenger distribution
* Post card of Hawaiian birds for Hawaiian Airlines passenger distribution
* Corporate Christmas card for Verizon Hawaii
* One-man exhibition: Pisa, Italy sponsored by the Pisan Artists Assn.
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