Biographical and Artistic Sketch for Eva Jean Richardson
The artist, Eva Jean Richardson, a longtime resident of Landover Hills, Maryland, was born in 1929 in Danville, Indiana. She was one of eight siblings growing up on the small farm of Verna and Chalmers Wright as a Quaker and a survivor of the Great Depression.
Eva’s early interest in sketching and painting was influenced by her father, who created beautiful woodcarvings and drew sketches of farm animals and landscapes. In her early childhood years, Eva and her sister, Ann, made their own paint palettes from various plants and berries that grew freely on their farm. They tried making their crayons by melting wax and adding various fruit and vegetable juices, but soon learned watery juices do not mix well with wax. Cardboard packaging was used for the artist’s canvas. In high school, Eva won Best in Show with her pastel painting of a deer jumping over a log. This was the only painting her mother kept, until the silverfish feasted on the untreated paper. Eva loved oil painting with her first art set she received at Christmas from her parents.
Marriage to the late William Lee Richardson, raising five wonderful children, and providing unrelenting community service to the Methodist Church and the Boy and Girl Scout programs left no time for brushes and colors. However, she continued to sketch and used her artistic talents to create winning Halloween costumes, numerous theater outfits and backdrops for school plays, and magic marker’d formal presentations supporting her husband at Boy Scout conferences.
Eva says art expresses her love of nature and all of its beauty in colors, shapes, and attitudes. She enjoys reating stories for her paintings as well as sharing her many talents with others. Relaxing at home, she listens to classical music and creates still life paintings to add to her collection of more than 80 masterpieces, her children’s prized legacy … a small piece of her life they will cherish forever. Her oldest, Billie Jean Verdel, followed her footsteps in taking a great interest in oil painting. Six of 10 grandchildren, Anna Verdel, Moriah Whitman, Jeff and Jeremy Laroche, Ellie Johnson, and Leanna Booth are blessed with artistic talent too. The 16 great grandchildren, soon to be 17, will enjoy a great legacy.
Eva had no professional training and taught herself up until she attended formal classroom instruction at the age of 70 at the Oasis at Prince George’s Plaza. She learned to paint with acrylics and perfected her skills using different mediums, learning from the late Bill Procter. When the center closed in 2001, Eva joined the Bowie Senior Center to learn various techniques and styles from talented instructors and artists Jean Magnum, Linda Upoff, Sharon Ksander, and Darlene Swanson, as well as fellow students. Eva describes herself as a watercolor artist who paints in the realism style.
In the 15 years Eva has been a member of the Bowie Center, she has made many friends and is very grateful to the talented artists who have shared their expertise and provided her support and encouragement. Eva looks forward to Wednesdays not only to paint, but to see all of her many, dear friends happily creating colorful masterpieces for the world to see. Everyone looks forward to seeing her smile, hearing her kind words, and being surprised by the beautiful flower arrangements she brings in from her gardens for all to paint. Eva’s growing desire to see all of her artwork displayed in one place for many to enjoy is finally happening with her art show, an another item on her bucket list that can be checked off!
Courtesy of Jacklyn L. Laroche