A different view
By Kirsten Ballard
Published in News on November 10, 2014 1:46 PM
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News-Argus/CASEY MOZINGO
Brenda Behr stands back and squints at her painting, allowing it to blur into the background. She tries to capture the essence of the cotton field instead of painting it exactly.
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News-Argus/CASEY MOZINGO
"I've never been a mother. I'm sure there are people that can't imagine life without being a mother. This is how I am. This is my reason for being."
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News-Argus/CASEY MOZINGO
Brenda Behr uses a limited oil palette for her cotton field painting. She believes this creates harmony, because viewers see the same hues throughout the sky, trees and grass.
She pulls off to the side of the road -- compelled to stop -- as other drivers continue their commutes.
They don't seem to notice the snow, the candy, the white flowers.
But Brenda Behr sees the beauty.
She sets up her easel and palette and readies a blank canvas.
To many who frequent New Hope Road, the scene, on this day, is ordinary.
Brenda sees things differently.
So she lines up her viewfinder -- an empty rectangle shaped like her canvas -- and takes a mental snapshot.
And then, her work begins.
"Painting is like the camera," she said. "Not everything is going to be in focus. The sooner you learn to make soft edges, the more convincing it is going to be."
But Brenda does not want her finished product to be too convincing.
"The paintings I really like are, one minute, paint and the next is a picture," she said. "But I really like knowing it's paint. A lot of people would rather have a photograph, but that's one thing, this is another."
This particular artist does not strive to capture every detail as a camera would.
"Painting it leaf by leaf doesn't cut it," she said. "What I'm doing is the impression, the essence."
On this particular day, Brenda uses a limited palette of oils -- requiring her to blend and mix them.
"It gives you more harmony," she said. "This yellow is in the grass, it's also in the green, it's in the sky."
She see colors in their truest forms -- the cotton is not a snowy white, but a reflection of the violet sky; the sky is tinted with shades of yellow.
"Knowing how to paint is knowing how to see," she said.
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It started back in 1958 -- when a 9-year-old Brenda started taking private art lessons.
Eight years later, when she won the Miss Goldsboro Pageant, she said she wanted to be a freelance art director, so she moved to Minneapolis and worked under different supervisors before realizing her dream.
And when her mother fell ill, and she moved back to Goldsboro to take care of her, her childhood passion was reborn.
"My mother drove me to paint," she said.
At first, Brenda painted landmarks around Goldsboro in watercolor.
"I thought it was a novel idea," she said. "I know now that it wasn't and that other people had done that."
But it was still an achievement.
And in 2004, Brenda had her first art show at the Arts Council of Wayne County
"Anyway, I ended up making this a career with no real plans to do that," she said. "The payment for me is both monetary and personal satisfaction, but I also get an amount of pleasure from bringing joy to people."
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Back on New Hope Road, Brenda is in a race against the harvest.
She loves painting cotton fields.
"If these were white flowers, everyone would be doing it," she said.
She paints quickly -- trying to capture the light and field as they are, knowing it won't be long before the crop is pulled.
"I don't tell anybody how fast I paint these," she said, laughing.
But the truth is, she has to paint fast.
Most of what she is trying to capture is fleeting -- whether it be a budding harvest or a wedding.
Still, the time she spends in front of her canvas -- however brief -- is what brings her joy.
"I was kind of blue yesterday, but after I got out here, I felt a lot better," she said, looking, again, across the field. "I don't know if it's an addiction. I do know that I feel better when I go out and do it. It's like breathing to me, it's so vital to what I do.
"I've never been a mother. I'm sure there are people that can't imagine life without being a mother. This is how I am. This is my reason for being. I made a decision a long time ago that this is what I was going to be."