Gloucester Arts on Main honors artist Gertrude Brown

Gertrude Brown

On June 1, Gloucester Arts on Main honored local artist Gertrude Brown.

The recognition kicked off the Have Heart Art Show, a project inspired by Holy Jackson, a Gloucester resident.

Raised in the Kentucky mountains with her two sisters, Brown first expressed her creativity by using the colored mud she found in streams to decorate her sneakers. She painted throughout high school, and subsequently married and had two children. She didn't begin painting again until her children were grown.

Upon returning to painting, she was undecided as to the medium she would use, but her artwork would soon be interrupted at the tragic passing of her husband. After his death, she committed herself to painting once again, finding her true medium in watercolor.

Her advice to young artists: "“Pick your medium and use it every day. Paint something you notice, something you find in nature. ... Do something creative every day.”

Brown has more than 20 of her pictures on display, two of which have won prizes. She is a traditional watercolorist and focuses on nature and flowers.

Many attendees of the event were Gertrude’s friends and family.

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