creative beings controlled chaos By Marimar McNaughton “Finding what we love to be creative at is part of the journey of our life,” says watercolor art-ist Russell Yerkes. “Fortunately I found it. I knew I wanted to be a painter when I was a kid. … I’m doing what I love and when you’re doing that, it comes out in all aspects of art.” Yerkes’ iconic idiom is intricately detailed, pigment saturated, stylized representations of underwater sea life and fish-eating birds. “The aquatic images were more popular,” Yerkes says, reflecting on an oeuvre that once fea-tured man-eating cats set amid domestic plantscapes. “Color and patterns, color is happy. It’s emotion. People can see that and relate to the color. Darkness comes from the inner feeling of the artist. I’m happy doing what I love. It’s coming out in these colorful, dramatic images. I lead a chaotic lifestyle even though it’s organized; and my work is chaotic; it’s controlling the chaos.” He likens his personal habits to those of the obsessive-compulsive traits exhibited by the main character in the television series, “Monk.” “I have a hard time with clutter … with disorganized messes. My studio is very organized,” Yerkes says. Still Clowning Around, 29.5 x 41 inches, watercolor. 46 WBM august 2014
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