THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, July 10, 1994 TAG: 9407070211
SECTION: CAROLINA COAST PAGE: 42 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: Nancy McWilliams
LENGTH: Medium: 83 lines
Hatteras native Dixie Browning, known for the romance novels she's written, has another talent she should be heralded for - watercolor painting.
``I see things in terms of watercolor,'' Browning said as she gazed toward the forests, birds and water outside her Buxton vacation home. ``I love the marshes, the flat landscape. I'm fascinated with the quality of light when there is water around.''
Painting from memory and imagination, Browning captures her gorgeous island home in dreamy scenes of water and sky and nature. ``I do a lot of looking and feeling, then I paint,'' she said.
While she sometimes uses oils or acrylics, it is watercolor that Browning thinks and sees in. ``I paint quickly. I don't do meticulous stuff with a brush. I like to get in and get out quickly, just to get an impression.''
Interested in art since she was a child, Browning graduated in a class of three from Hatteras High, then attended two years of college. She never studied watercolor techniques. Yet she taught watercolor classes when she moved to Winston-Salem, and she was a founder and first president of the Watercolor Society of North Carolina. Her work has been exhibited in traveling shows around the country, juried shows throughout the Southeast and galleries in Washington, D.C. She has had more than 20 one-person shows.
By 1976, Browning began to write romance novels, a demanding occupation that cut into her painting time, she said. For several years, she set aside her paintbrushes. Now she schedules four to six books a year, allowing time to paint, along with time to care for her home and husband.
During the time she focused entirely on writing, Browning missed painting terribly. She has a studio full of work at her Winston-Salem home. Some smaller paintings are exhibited at Browning Artworks in Frisco.
Mostly inspired by island light and water, Browning lets her imagination lead her when it comes to painting. ``It's like exploring,'' she said. ``I don't want to paint a replica of something. I'm not a thing painter.''
Marshes, trees, boats, water are her subjects, and Browning captures the essence of the place in a hauntingly beautiful manner. The effect the island has on her paintings is total and complete.
``I grew up on the water, playing in it, swimming, fishing, exploring the marsh with my brother and friends. It's in my blood.''
Something else that is natural to her is writing. Beginning as a newspaper art columnist in Winston-Salem, Browning entered a Harlequin writing competition. Even though she didn't win the contest, she was off and running. With no formal training, she just jumped right in and hasn't stopped since.
Her cabin-style home in Buxton is lined with copies of the 67 books she has published, romance novels she writes under her own byline and historical novels she writes with her sister Mary Williams under the name Bronwyn Williams. Many of the books are set on the Outer Banks.
Working hard to meet publishing deadlines, Browning stays on top of writing so she can ``buy time to paint.'' The trouble, she joked, is that all her hobbies turn into professions.
Whether or not a painting ever sells, one feels Browning would do it anyway. ``I do it for me,'' she confessed. ``I can't not paint. It's so exciting to see what a painting is going to do.''
In watercolors, the water is going to have as much influence as the painter, she stressed. ``I don't want to control it directly. I have to be able to control what the water and the paint do together. It's like conducting an orchestra. I like to think of myself as conducting a painting.''
Browning, 63, finds strong similarities in her two creative outlets. ``You have to know your perimeters in writing. You have to know the genre. In watercolor you have to know the behavior of the paint under different conditions.'' And, in both writing and painting, Browning said, you learn best by doing.
``I've left behind a legacy of books and paintings,'' she added. ``I've left something worthwhile behind; I'm very proud.''
Those who consider romance novels as trashy or tacky need to broaden their minds, Browning suggested. ``Some fine writers are doing it,'' she said. Today's romance novels ``create little segments of life.'' Browning simply hopes to stay healthy so she can continue to enjoy life. ``You can't waste time,'' she said. ``If you're interested, you end up doing things. I didn't plan to write or paint. I just did them. You see a need and you fill it.'' ILLUSTRATION: Dixie Browning
Paints with words, watercolors
by CNB