~ story and photos by Paige Langenderfer
MK Watkins has loved art for as long as she can remember. Even the smell of crayons makes her smile.
In October, she displayed more than 100 of her own paintings in her Brown County home for her first year participating in the Back Roads of Brown County Studio Tour. While she has been a professional artist most of her life, Watkins didn’ t always imagine a career in art.
“ I loved everything about art. It was love at first sight,” she said.“ I loved the way it looked, I loved the way it felt, I loved the way it smelled, but I just didn’ t think you could make a career out of doing what you loved. I thought art was going to be my life’ s hobby, not my life’ s work.”
Watkins took her very first art class at the John Herron School of Art when she was in eighth grade. She had won the opportunity to take the class by participating in an art contest. Students met weekly and used charcoal to recreate famous works of art.
“ I looked forward to that class all week,” Watkins said.“ I loved learning the techniques and it left me wanting to learn so much more.”
At Holy Cross School in Indianapolis, Watkins and her fellow students did not have art class. The only thing that resembled art was a short time of drawing with crayons if there happened to be extra time at the end of the day on Fridays.
“ All I wanted to do was art, so every Friday I would anxiously wait to see if we were going to be allowed to color,” Watkins said.“ It didn’ t happen very many Fridays.”
While she continued to create in her free time, Watkins was focused on a career in business by the time she entered high school. After graduating from college, she took a job with the Chicago White Sox.
42 Our Brown County Nov./ Dec. 2016