Upper Lake >> Not many people can say that they started preparing for their career at the age of five, but Carolyn Hawley found her place behind the piano before she was even assigned a seat in her kindergarten classroom. Many years prior to picking up a paintbrush and becoming the talented artist she is today, she sat with hands poised over a keyboard.
“I think I was born with [music]. I don”t remember not being with it,” Hawley said. “It was how my life immediately became as a tiny child. And my aunt had an old piano and she told me how to put my fingers up on the keys and I”ve been doing it ever since.” The enthusiastic support of her parents also kept her going. Hawley”s mom enrolled her in piano lessons and her father took time out of his day to sit and listen as her fingers created melodies. “It has a lot to do with parent encouragement. Children need to be encouraged by their parents.”
At the age of eight, Hawley composed her first piece. “I”ve still got it. It”s got a bright yellow star on it,” she said.
Since then, as a professional musician Hawley has gone on to perform as the classical pianist for the Ukiah Chamber Players and the Ukiah Symphony, as well as directing the latter. “As a conductor of the orchestra I can play all the instruments. I don”t play them well,” she laughed.
She”s also played with various professional and non-professional groups, accompanied musical theater performances and put on a number of shows at venues such as the Blue Wing Saloon. She”s spent time as a college piano instructor and she hosts a radio show on KPFZ once a month. “[It”s] a radio show featuring composers and interviews with modern living composers of classical music,” she explained.
Hawley”s talents aren”t limited to those of the musical variety though. She was a theater actress for a few years as well as a ballroom dance teacher. She”s taught creative writing and has six volumes of poetry and one book published, titled “Memoirs of an Aging Woodnymph”. The memoir is about her time living in the hills above Ukiah as a “modern day pioneer,” according to the cover. “I went up there with no people around for five miles on any side and we built a home, my children and I,” she said. “And that”s the story of how we did that.”
But of all of her many ventures, oil painting has brought Hawley much success and joy, coming second only to her first love, music. In 1970, she moved to Mendocino County and discovered the medium, and it”s been a part of her life ever since.
Hawley found painting by way of her piano. “Through music I met many artist friends who basically taught me what I know,” she said, naming Adele Pruitt as a huge aid and a good friend.
As a student of the school of learning by doing, Hawley mastered the art. “I haven”t really had any art teachers.” Despite a lack of a formal education, she”s won many art shows at annual fairs and she”s even received the “Best in Show” award.
However, Hawley never expected her painting to take off as it did. “It went way farther than I thought it would go,” she said, explaining that her past experiences in acting never stuck in the same way. “You have to make a choice.” Her choice was to pursue painting.
Hawley”s works are all made using oil paint, which she finds the most interesting of the substances. “I always felt a strong affinity to oil and it”s the best medium for me. I like what it does. I like how you work with it,” she said. “I don”t even try acrylic or watercolors. Those do not interest me. All the great masters from the older times always used oil I have an affinity for oil and the way it works on the canvas.”
Even when Hawley picks up a paintbrush she never steps away from the piano. “When I see a painting I hear music and when I hear music I see a painting,” she said. “We both see and hear. Those are our main senses and you really cant separate them. I think they”re like twin sisters.”
All inspiration comes from the same place, whether Hawley is composing music or creating a visual piece. “If you have a creative feeling it can go in many art forms,” she said. “It works usually better in one area than the other Sometimes I”m deeply touched in a way that can only be expressed in words. When words don”t do it, I will turn to the art of composing music.”
Hawley places brush to canvas as a way to express her unique vision. Her subjects largely consist of nature scenes with some portraits and abstracts thrown into the mix. “I like to communicate what I see to others and that”s why I like to capture what is beautiful and true,” she said. “Communicate, that”s very important. Otherwise I wouldn”t paint. Some things are beyond words.” She mostly paints outdoors, conveying the landscapes, animals and plants as they appear to her. “You can get six artists painting the same scene and get no painting the same. Each person sees things differently. It”s just my view.”
While Hawley enjoys her time spent painting, piano will always hold a special place in her heart. “Professionally I”m a musician,” she said. “Music is the highest art, I believe As a highly trained classical composer I try to really rise above and beyond this world into a higher dimension.”
Though she feels very passionately about music, Hawley did admit that painting possesses a gratifying advantage. “Painting is much more immediate. Music is a sound art that takes time where painting is a visual art and that is immediate,” she explained. “I get great pleasure out of the immediate impact of the painting.”
Hawley”s artwork will be featured at the Lake County Wine Studio (LCWS) in Upper Lake throughout the month of February. Her reception is Feb. 6 from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. and Feb. 7 from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. Forty of Hawley”s pieces have been printed onto greeting cards and will be for sale at LCWS along with various poster-sized prints of her artwork.
To accompany her oil paintings, Hawley will be performing a few piano numbers for guests at the reception, demonstrating the strong connection between the two mediums.
Jennifer Gruenke can be reached at 900-2019.
