
DATE: Thursday, October 23, 1997            TAG: 9710220185

SECTION: SUFFOLK SUN             PAGE: 10   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY FRANK ROBERTS, STAFF WRITER 

                                            LENGTH:   74 lines

HATS, UMBRELLAS DOMINATE ARTIST'S WORKS HAZEL CAMP EXHIBIT AT HOBBS CAMPUS OF PAUL D. CAMP COMMUNITY COLLEGE RUNS THORUGH DEC. 31.

Soap and watercolor. That's the evolution of Hazel Camp's life.

It began when she was a first grader, staring at a white, blah sheet showing a bar of Lifebuoy.

``I colored it and won a prize,'' Camp said. ``I've been painting about 35 years.''

She paints Monet-style - a very impressive impressionist.

Now the works of Hazel Camp are on display at the Oliver K. Hobbs campus of Paul D. Camp Community College.

Camp, who lives in Newport News, is not related to the school's namesake. She is a Georgia native who spent most of her adult life in Maryland.

She is a signature member of both the Baltimore and Virginia Watercolor societies, and the National League of American Pen Women.

Camp's list of honors, awards, and exhibitions in which she has participated is arms length, as are the number of her oils, pastels, acrylics, pen and ink pieces, pencil drawings, collages, and watercolors.

``When I decide to do a painting - my experience, or instinct, tells me which medium I will use,'' Camp said. ``They tell me to use acrylic on canvas, watercolor, or casein watercolor with India ink on paper - and so on.

``My subject matter varies,'' she said. ``It includes landscapes, figures, still life and imaginative paintings of children and ladies in frilly white hats, and people with umbrellas.''

Those hats and umbrellas are fixations.

``When I was a little girl, teachers would stamp my efforts with a little umbrella,'' Camp said. ``And, being from Georgia - my mom always carried a parasol. I like their shapes and colors.

``Sometimes, I go to Washington and take photos of people with umbrellas,'' said Camp, who turns those photos into atmospheric attention-getters.

Many of those attention-getters are on homemade Italian paper, some on English or French paper, some on rice paper.

``The homemade paper is $25 a sheet,'' Camp said. ``I work very carefully.''

Often, she works this way: ``I put colors down on paper or canvas, let it dry, see what's on it. Usually, I see people with umbrellas, or girls or women with fancy hats. I see colors, shapes - then it evolves. I wet the paper or canvas, spread it. Whatever comes - .''

She likens what she sees after initially ``coloring'' the paper or canvas, to the pictures many of us see while looking at clouds.

That method is fine for flowers and the like, but does not work for scenes.

The scenes in Camp's sketchbook, ``Sketches With Bamboo Pen,'' are impressive - filled with drawings, mostly of rural, rustic scenes of Maryland and New York State.

It is not for sale. You just have to catch up with the artist, someplace, and savor the works therein.

``I go out in the car, take pen and ink,'' Camp said. ``Whatever speaks to me - .

A ``thing'' speaks to her quite often.

``It's the drive in me. It's like something sitting on my shoulder, saying - you have work to do today,'' Camp said. ``I could be doing almost anything - eating - anything - and I'm thinking - I have to do one more sketch.'' ILLUSTRATION: Staff photo by MICHAEL KESTNER

Umbrellas are a recurring theme in the Impressionist-style

watercolors of artist Hazel Camp of Newport News. She does her work

on handmade papers.

Graphic

ABOUT THE EVENT

WHAT: Watercolors by Hazel Camp

WHEN: 8 a.m. to 7 p. m., Monday through Friday, through Dec. 31

WHERE: Oliver K. Hobbs Campus of Paul D. Camp Community College,

271 Kenyon Road

FOR INFORMATION: all 925-6311 or 925-0448