By Aurelio Sanchez
Journal Staff Writer

      As a Rhode Island history professor, Robert Gutchen often took students to England, where they often walked past a watercolor gallery.
       “Every time I walked past that gallery, I'd often look in the window, and one day, I said to myself that I could do that,” Gutchen said. “I went out and got myself a box of watercolors and tried, but of course, it was pretty bad.”
       That was 20 years ago, and Gutchen has since become one of New Mexico's premier watercolorists as a signature member of the New Mexico Watercolor Society.
       He will be among more than 100 members of the organization showing during its annual “Spring Show” opening Friday at Expo New Mexico.
       “New Mexico has some of the finest artists in the country, and this show gives people an opportunity to see what some of the finer artists are doing,” said David Collis, vice president in charge of exhibitions.
       New Mexico is God's country as far as watercolor is concerned, Collis said.
       “It was made for watercolor, because of the clouds, our adobe buildings, old barns, and the kind of naturalism that only nature can give,” Collis said. “Watercolor has that same kind of naturalism.”
       Gutchen said he started painting primarily landscapes, while continuing to do other things like teaching history.
       “That was easy to do because when you're dealing with a tree, the tree is is not going to complain if you put its branch in the wrong place,” Gutchen said.
       As his proficiency grew with practice and after taking a few workshops, Gutchen began putting his wife into some of works.
       “At first, she was not particularly recognizable, but as I kept on, I found more and more that I enjoyed painting people,” Gutchen said. “To me, it was a sort of magic.
       “You get a sense of light and dark, you're dealing with a lot of attributes, some of them hidden, and then all of a sudden you see this human being coming back at you out of the paper.
       “You see the body movements, their intentions, their relationships, and it all seems to come out of the portrait, the sense of character, smiling or sadness that appears,” he said. “The magic of it is just amazing.”
       He recently began doing multiple portraits of people, including people in various situations like shopping, or walking hand in hand.
       “In many cases, it's often wide open what they're doing. I like to leave something to the viewer so they can come up with their own stories from the painting,” Gutchen said.
       Being a “signature” member of the society means you have had your work shown in a handful of juried shows within two and a half years, and means you may then sign the painting after your signature with the letters “NMWS.”
       “For anyone who knows, that designation means the work is done by a more professional artist with the work being viewed as being somewhat worthy,” Gutchen said.
       After he retired Gutchen became a member of a watercolor society in Rhode Island, which he said was a prestigious organization. When he came to New Mexico in late 2004, Gutchen found a “very strong and powerful” art tradition here.
       “I'm proud to be a member of the New Mexico Watercolor Society,” Gutchen said. “We've got some very fine artists here, and their annual show is really worth attending.”
       Founded almost 40 years ago by Peter Walker, the society was at first a chapter of the Southwestern Watercolor Society, based in Dallas. The NMWS became an independent group in 1975.
       “The purpose of the society is to elevate the status of watercolor as an art medium and to educate the public about watercolor,” a news release from the group said. “An ultimate goal is to make New Mexico known nationally for its watercolorists.”